J.O.B. Just Over Broke!

To me, the word JOB means Just Over Broke! We all are....well most of us are, very happy to have our jobs, because is sustains our way of life.

Our lifestyles.

Our ways of living.

But on the flip-side of the whole JOB system that we live (and die) in, we are restricted, and forced to conform to a drone-like living.

What is your daily work-scheduled routine?
Wake up with the Chickens,
shower (if you didn't the night before),
wake the kids (if you have one or more),
get dressed,
wake the kids...again ;-),
dress them,
feed the kids,
feed yourself,
get the kids ready for school and the bus ride, or take them yourself,
then it's off to the races.

We spend more than half our day/life going to and from, and spending time at work. Over the last 5 years (which were really noticeable for me), our work-loads and expected times to be at work have increased dramatically, without the increase in pay. We are working much harded jobs, and working much longer hours without the raises necessary to compensate or compete with the rapid rises in the cost of living, all the while taking away from our personal/family/life time.

There have been times when I have found myself waking from sleep early to start my day, rushing to work,
spending more than half the day there,
fighting traffic for hours trying to get home, or close to home,
trying to stop off at the local Walmart to do some last minute shopping,
getting home,
cooking,
eating,
hopefully not having to wash clothes,
cleaning the house,
showering and before falling off to a deep and very much deserved sleep, trying to market and promote my own business(es).

When is there time for that!? Not to mention if you're married and/or in a relationship with kids. YOU WIL NOT HAVE TIME FOR ANYTHING! You become a robot, and that is what I refuse to do!

As much as I appreciate the fact that I do have a steady JOB that appreciates me, I also know that I desire to have my own business(es). I have (successfully) attempted writing, and now my newest venture is photography (http://www.aimlessphotography.com/) which is starting to become a successful business for me as well. It's just that I find it very hard to try to chase and follow your dreams while trying to manage a "Normal" life. My social life is non-existant, and I bearly have time to sit back and try to enjoy a 30-minute tv show,...but that's the cost of doing business...especially your own, right??? Is that why we all, well most of us, choose to work for someone else, so we don't have to bear the brunt of running our own businesses? I think so.

Working for someone else is somewhat of a safety net. By working for someone else, we do not have as much liability as business owners, therefore alleviating us of the full responsibility if something goes wrong. But on the flip side, we become slaves to our jobs, which control our lifestyles, our ways of living, and our futures.

I cannot leave my life in the hands of no one but myself, so I spend everyday and every minute that I have trying to make my own business(es) a success. I will be my own boss someday if it kills me! I just can't be afraid to take that chance and lose what I have established with my semi-corporate 9-5, so I, along with my close friends live by the mantra (did I spell that right ;-) of:

"Money and success Lives on the Other Side of Fear"! You should try it yourself. You should NOT be afraid to venture out and try to do what makes you happy. You may become a success at what you're trying to do too, but you'll never know unless you try! I'd rather try and fail now, rather than sit back and say, "I wonder what would have happened if"..., or "I wish I would have...". I hope I've inspired you to feel the same way.

Imus has been FIRED!....Now what?

Imus has been fired!!! Now, what do we do? Do we just sit back and celebrate the fact that we got a racist fired, and start "feeling ourselves", or do we do like Michael Baisden is asking, and take the next step?

What is the next step...

How about taking the "N"-Word out of our daily vocabulary!?

How about showing all women, and especially our own women a little more respect by not making the music that perpetuates our negative connotations towards them!?

How about not playing that harsh music when our children are around!?

How about making sure that our young boys learn to respect women, as well as each other so that we can make a change in this new generation, so that they do not continue to do the wrong that we are doing now!?

We are so far gone when it comes to self respect, cultural respect, and general respect for women. To me, all women are a lot "harder" than they used to be back in the day. I am very old fashioned in the way that I like my women. I like my women quiet, soft and soft spoken. I like my women smart enough and strong enough to know that you do not have to be hard and rough to get respect, and I like my women with enough self respect to not tolerate anything less, but if we do not teach our young men and our culture anything different, how will they learn, how will they change, and when will they change?

Let's use our collective strength in the Imus controversy as a new beginning.

Imus is a RACIST!!

This post was submitted by my older brother. No matter how many times we try to forget, or ignore it, racism sadly still exists in America. Please feel free to comment, and link to and circulate this post.

One thing that I've learned over the years is that you can suppress your true feeling for so long. Eventually your true feeling will surface. White America would like us to believe that racism is dead. Contrary to what is said, racism is alive, breathing and growing. The comments Imus made about the Rutgers female basketball team wasn't the mistake. The mistake was that MSNBC didn't censor it or had a five second delay. The mistake was Imus used his radio show to voice what he really feels about African American women and African American's as a whole. The mistake is MSNBC gave a racist a public form to broadcast his racist views. Imus comments weren't a joke in poor taste. The only people who would find those comments to be a joke are Imus, the other man on the show at that time and the many other racist people in America. I'm offended by his comments but not suprised. I'm smart enough to know that there are plenty more so called celebrities or high profile people that feels the same way he does. I personally reject his apology, MSNBC's apology and will ask any self respecting African American or human for that matter to reject their insincere apology and boycott anything that has to do with Imus and MSNBC until Imus is fired. Please continue to circulate this email and feel free to add any comment about this issue.

Yusef A. Roberson

HAMMER TIME

When I saw this photo, I HAD TO stop and take a pic. I almost felt like dancing!! Hey, I'm just trying to be a good citizen, and obey all of our traffic laws ;-)