Looking Ahead, Not Behind; 2020 In Review

It's been over a year and a half since I've written in the blog...sad. I don't really have a reason that I can articulate. I just haven't felt like writing. CRAZY RIGHT! I've spent the better part of the last 15 years writing one thing or another, in one venue or another, with my writing focus on this or that. But for some reason, for the longest time I haven't been inspired to put thought to paper. 

But tonight at the end of 2020, the singularly most transformative year in the lives of most people, I feel the need to get back to one of the things that I love most in the world. One of the few things in which I take solace, writing.

Little did we know when we rung in 2020 last year at this same time, that we would be facing one of the most life threatening years that our country and this world would experience. 2020 has been the year of the unexpected. We didn't expect our entire way of living to be changed by a tiny virus called Covid-19 that wreaked havoc, not only on us as individuals, but the world at large. 

The hardest part hasn't been not beeing able to go to the mall, restaurants, or hanging out here and there. The hardest part has been the lack of human touch. Hand shakes have become rare and hugs have become all but extinct. 

This time last year, I didn't think know that this would be the year that we would be privy to a front row seat in what would become the greatest test of the strenghth of democracy in the United States....the land of the free and the home of the brave. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearing to breathe free....

Even in the midst of all that, I'm able to praise God for the blessings that He's given me and my family. He blessed me to be able to work from home when so many people had to leave their jobs because Covid 19 had shut them down, or they had to choose between going to work and staying home with their children who were now being home schooled because of the virus. In the mids of all of this, God blessed me with a promotion at my job that I've been working on for the last two years. 

But most of all, in the midst of all of this my family and I are still here! There are so many people that didn't make it to see 2021. 

I'm praising God in advance for all of the things that He's going to do in the up coming year!

I'm not going to worry you with my personal goals for the up coming year because I feel as if for the first time in a very long time my goals truly are personal. (Love you though *wink*)

As I sit in my kitchen finishing up our New Year's feast of the obligatory collard greens, black eyed peas, and fried fish, I simply want to wish anyone that happens to read this a prospersous, happy, and healthy new year. Keep your joy, the world doesn't give it and world doesn't take it away. 

And as my beloved Grandmother used to say, "Keep the good Lord in front of you!"

Happy New Year, with much love,

Pandora Esperanza

Everything is Political....And I Hate It. (My Personal Commentary)

I will tell you this right up front, I hate politics.

There was a professor that I had during my first two years of college, He taught Afro American Studies courses, and I was a freshman that decided to take his class called The Black Man. I be honest, I took the class because I heard it was full of really intelligent hot guys! I had no idea that would actually learn more about myself and the world that I lived in as an African American that I did in his courses. I would dare to say that He was one of the most influential teachers of my young adult life.

With that being said, one of the pieces of wisdom that he gave us is that "EVERYTHING is political". Relationships, the work place, even church! But to me the worst is the politics of our country and the world. It brings out the worst in people, not the best.

This year 2016, I can honestly say that I have never been as afraid of the outcomes of the Presidential elections as I am now. As an African American, I know all that my people have had to endure since our introduction to this country, the country that we now call home. even though we are so far removed from the slavery era, it seems that we as an American people have so far to go.

As I watch the debates, the news footage, I see the release of the bitterness, hatred and racism that has been lurking under the skin of some of America. I see politician play up the fears and anxieties of the people, people of all backgrounds. I just don't understand. Haven't we suffered enough as people, as a country? Why are we still trying to tear each other apart?