“Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance.”   –Bruce Barton

As a product of teenage pregnancy and a heroin addict father, I decided very early in life that I did not want to merely be a product of my environment; I decided I would work to create an environment that would become a product of me.  Raised by a grandmother who left school in the third grade to help her mother clean houses; she made up for in love what she lacked in formal education. She taught me three things that have been the cornerstones of my philosophy in life. Watching her I learned compassion, strength and self-love. Perhaps another one of the most valuable lesson she instilled in me is that there is something within all of us that is greater than our circumstance. Her lessons have made all the difference in my life.

This new stage of my life (PhD Candidacy & expanding my Personal Brand) is a testament to her perseverance, strength and grace. It is because she not only cared for me but believed in me and taught me to believe in myself that I am able to put these words together and share them with you. Sometime a new endeavor or expansion is not about the next step. Sometime it is about our willingness to believe and trust ourselves enough to allow room for both mistakes and transformation with the knowledge that one cannot occur without the other.

 

Posted by Rasheem on Thursday, September 13th, 2018 @ 8:50AM
Categories: Black Womanist Epistemology