BETTER TOGETHER

There is no substitute for hard work TOGETHER! Earlier this month I had the opportunity to take my son and a few of his talented teammates out to one of my properties I am currently selling. What an amazing experience for all of us. I challenged these young men to take down a big strong tree with just axes. I own two chainsaws and had one there and was cutting trees down on the property in two minutes while they chipped away slowly. I could have cut down that tree with my chainsaw in a few minutes. Sometimes lessons can be taught by working harder not smarter. I told their parents it would take an hour or so. 4 HOURS LATER THEY WERE STILL SWINGING. Exhausted and depleted in the scolding Florida sun they were chipping away. TOGETHER. I asked them if they wanted to quit. I didn't get a single yes. They kept swinging and after thousands of swings, buckets of sweat, and a couple lost breakfasts on the hot dry ground, that tree finally fell. Their reaction was priceless. They jumped. They yelled. They looked up above and thanked the good Lord. They hugged. I will never forget the chills that ran up my spine as I watched them celebrate.  TOGETHER.

I am a proud parent of 5 biracial children. These are unprecedented times indeed. I do not claim to be a perfect parent but I do feel I am raising good, respecful, beautiful children in a world I never thought I would witness. I want to share a few of my thoughts/opinions on our current situation.  

1. If you are allowing your children to sit around and play video games or be 100% sedentary all day long waiting this pandemic out you are making a mistake. If your kids grow up to be lazy living on your couch at 30 don't blame Covid or the government. Look in the mirror. You are wrong.

2. If you are teaching your kids what happened to George Floyd and others is OK you are wrong. (I have yet to hear ANYONE say this)

3. If you are teaching your kids that all Cops are bad and are hunting black people you are wrong (I have heard this several times)

4. If you are teaching your kids that the rioting in some of our cities is ok and or cool then you are wrong (I have heard this several times)

5. If you are teaching your kids that one race is better than the other you are wrong. That goes for white, brown, and black parents ( I have heard this)

6. If you are teaching your kids that if a person votes a certain way then they are racist you are wrong. (I have heard this a lot)

7. If you shame someone in front of your children who votes outside the norm of their race/religion/community you are wrong. (I have heard this a lot)

This country that I moved to when I was 1 year old is not perfect. This country my wife moved to 19 years ago is not perfect. Is your state perfect? Is your city perfect? Is your family perfect? ARE YOU PERFECT? The answer is no to all of the above. With that said, in my humble opinion this is the greatest country in the world. I was born in Europe have travelled to South America multiple times and visited the Middle East. I feel I live in the best country in the world and though some try, I will not be bullied Or feel bad for saying that. I hope and know others around the world feel the same pride in their countries. 

Bottom line is we have come a long way as an imperfect USA. We still have a journey ahead of us as we strive to be better. Like the boys in the picture above we can do it TOGETHER. It will not be easy but it will be worth it. We can't give up. Don't let others, including the media bully you around and tell you who you are. You know who you are and you know what's right and what's wrong. We need to keep swinging. We must chip away all bad feelings towards others we may have (speaking to all races). I have literally lived in the projects alongside my FAMU teammates and brothers and have seen things most others have not. I have witnessed teammates and others being profiled. I have been profiled myself as the only white individual living in those projects. Though I was not happy when being questioned, I respected the officer as I was searched along with my vehicle. They did not believe I lived in the complex though my driver’s license showed I did. They thought I was there to buy drugs. Respecting the officer and obeying orders went a long way in helping me in that situation. After a few minutes I was let go with no damage done. LET ME PUT IT ON RECORD NOW. If I ever see my children disrespecting the police as I have witnessed others of all races doing these past several months, the police have my permission to rough them up and knock some sense into them. They will not get a law suit from me. They will get a handshake and Thank you. Even if the Police are wrong if we don’t teach our children to respect and listen to them we are asking for more trouble. The cop was wrong in searching me and my car for drugs. I didn’t fight them or cuss them out or try and run away though. That would not have turned out well for me. I was inconvenienced but it really was not that big of a deal. I had nothing to hide.

This is not a political post. This is a common sense post in my opinion. I know a lot of people have recently apologized including but not limited to Ms. Butterworth, Uncle Ben, Drew Brees and his wife, and Lady A among many others. I would also like to take a second to say that I hope this post does not offend anyone. If it does I would like to take this opportunity to say from the bottom of my heart that I want to sincerely apologize to ABSOLUTELY NOBODY. This is how I feel and it is MY humble opinion. I have and will continue to listen to others and I would encourage others to listen to others including the FACTS in regards to a lot of the issues our nation is facing. I wish you all the best out there in your personal lives and professional careers. I know we can build a better world, better country, and better communities if we are able to work TOGETHER.

P.S. 

It is inevitable that some will say to keep these types of posts off LinkedIn. I was not planning on doing this until I saw a picture of graffiti on a wall of a government building out west that read "kill cops" here on LinkedIn. Believe it or not. That post had likes on it. Yes. On LinkedIn. They are wrong