For the last couple years I have made a list of the things learned that year.  2006 taught me the difference between difficult and challenging and that I am too precious for the bs.  Then, 2007 reminded me that I love Detroit and just because I am too precious for the bs, doesn’t mean there will not be plenty of it.

2008 though…

Taught me about love.

I love, love.  How it feels.  Even when it hurts.  It can incite hope, offer healing and it’s one of the few things in life that are free and worth having.  Love is absolutely the best and most powerful emotion humans are allowed…  And I completely indulge.

There are so many ways love has touched my life in 2008, that I can not begin to list them all. In fact, it is one of the constants from one annual list to the next. I stay full of new revelations about Love. It is a huge part of who I am. The basic premise here is that, even when I wish I didn’t, I do. Even when I wish I couldn’t, I can. Even when I don’t want to, I will:

Always be at the mercy of a thing called Love.

It makes my days greater. It let’s me know when I am doing the right or the wrong thing. It allows me to be vulnerable and strong at the same time.

That’s not to say Love doesn’t need to be handled with care. When you love in hopes of receiving love, you are guaranteed to experience some kind of adverse emotion if it isn’t returned adequately or in a manner that you prefer. Love has to be pure. Not bartered with.

I can admit I have low days where I feel discouraged or emotionally worked over by my passion for lost love, or stagnant because I still live in Detroit, or drained by my many commitments and responsibilities. Sometimes, I am exhausted by love and the energy it steals to permeate the many dimensions of my life.

But most days, it’s all Love.

Hello 2009.

It’s no secret I live in Detroit - well, as not to offend any Detroiters, I live just outside of Detroit.  Really it doesn’t matter.  The point I am trying to make is that it is the same whether your zip code places you in Detroit or Southfield:

It is really hard here, and help can’t come fast enough.

I have been bantering on and off for the last 4 years about wanting to leave this place, but there have been any number of things to keep me here.  In a lot of ways I appreciate being grounded because I have had a lot of lessons and blessings come from staying.

It’s just so bad now.

It has become commonplace to hear about a friend being robbed or someones home being broken into.  It is normal to hear about a car stolen in broad daylight.  It is expected that you get your gas and go to the ATM’s during the daylight hours, because they are routinely carjacking people too.

Did I mention getting a gun here is easier than getting a job?  Legally or otherwise, getting a gun is easier. Far easier.

Even with all that, I still love Detroit.  I still love the spirit of the people here when they band together for the right things.  It’s just unfortunate that most of the time, we are separated, for all the wrong reasons.

I don’t know what it is going to take.  Maybe this city needs to fall to it’s knees.  Maybe within it’s collapse, people will find love and hope and the strength necessary to bring unity to an area that was once equated with those things, (love, hope and strength), but now, struggles on, as the resting place for Jim Crow, and the “N-word.”

Those of you who don’t support the LOAN (not bail out) for the auto industry, consider for a moment, if you will - what will become of our nation, of our United States, if we can not support our own, assist our own, and rescue our own, while the nations we do business with have not only done that for themselves but have extended offers to do it for us.

What will become of our United States if we do not Unite?

Have a gander at this USA Today article.

Later.