Proud Mary

Left a good job in the city
Workin’ for The Man every night and day
And I never lost one minute of sleeping
Worrying about the way the thing might have been

Big wheel keep on turnin’
Oooh, The Proud Mary keep on burnin’
And we’re rollin’, (rollin‘), rollin’ yeah, (rollin’)
Rolling on a river
(Rolling on the river)

Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis
And I pumped a lot of ‘tane down in New Orleans
But I never saw the good side of the city
Until I hitched a ride on the River Boat Queen

“Proud Mary” by Ike & Tina

Bewilderment has set in.

What were we doing before the words Stimulus Money took over everyday conversation?

While scolding the parents and young people of today, we hear many fond stories about the good ole days…about being dirt poor but happiness and love abounded. About having eight brothers and sisters but eating everyday. About feeding the neighbor’s children even though your family was broke. About how the entire block kept an eye on the kids outside and no one spared the rod. About how parents didn’t go to college but made sure their children did. About walking five miles to school with a hole in your shoe and a smile on your face.

With all that banding together when the going got tough, are we now powerless unless we receive stimulus dollars? Are you people kidding me?

My business, like most others, has been hit hard by the crash of the economy. Small businesses are closing and the ones open are struggling and may not have money to advertise which is my newspaper’s main revenue stream. At the same troubling time, I press on while driven to study God and His Creation. I now believe that an economic crash is just what our society needed to get back to being human.

The young parents of our wayward children were left to fend for themselves a long time ago while we pursued material wealth and our own individualistic interests. The horror and heartbreak of Derrion Albert’s death and countless other murdered children is a comeuppance we weren’t ready for. The sooner we admit this, the better. But, even now, though a lot of us have managed to hold on to the trimmings of success, we are too proud to downsize because that would show our true economic state. On the news we see that in all of America, the plague of poverty is now visiting the once strong and mighty. But, we continue the façade as long as possible because we don’t want anyone to know that we are just as poor as the people in Altgeld Gardens. So, let’s keep the SUV’s humming, the clothes new, the heels high in Italian boots, and the accessories blinging. All along avoiding bill collectors and scraping for necessities. Could this be yet another chance to humble ourselves and serve? If you need money to serve, you’ve already missed the boat. I mean, Ark.

Idle hands, the devil’s mischief they will do…

Two days before Derrion Albert’s murder, I sent out an email, “The Bronzeville Business Association is hiring a Youth Street Team to deliver newspapers, flyers, and menus for BBA businesses within a designated radius of their Bronzeville homes. We will teach our young people the value of earned money, instill a good work ethic, community involvement, and neighborhood development.” Within minutes, children and parents responded and after Derrion’s death, my email was overwhelmed with applicants.

During this time I had an enlightening discussion with Reverend Otis Moss, III of Trinity United Church of Christ while I interviewed him for the October issue of Metropolis. He told me about the Youth Rally Against Violence, a march through the community that the teens in his church asked for and how he was allowing them to organize and plan the entire thing. I told him about the response to my email and how sincere the kids who responded were and how I wished I could have hired them all. He said, “The need is here and we have to fulfill our children’s needs.”

Reverend Moss admonished some of the naysayer’s murmuring, “Some of you are saying that marching won’t solve anything. But this is what they wanted to do. You adults should be supporting them. You already had your time. Now let this generation find their own voice.” The youth rally at TUCC was a success and has lead to increased activities and events for their youth to organize.

Meanwhile, the reality of modern day parents and broken families is something we know all too well. Are there good, loving parents who simply lack parenting skills? Yes. Are there baby mommas who are too young to make good choices even for themselves, let alone their children? Of course. Are there baby daddies who have no concept of fatherhood and responsibility? Absolutely. Are there beasts and demons who should never be allowed near children yet they give birth? Unfortunately, yes. And in all of these equations, the victim or the prey is the new life these people have brought into the world.

There are some great organizations who do great work but some of you need to stop. For real. While Mighty Mouse is waiting to save the day as soon as his group gets some Stimulus money, realize that that sort of weak posture breeds the next generation of lifetime welfare recipients who will believe they can’t do anything unless they get a handout.

If Almighty God doesn’t make mistakes, and He is “Good All the Time”, and is the Giver of Life, and doesn’t put a burden on us too strong to bear, where does that leave the children and the rest of society?

If you come down to the river
I bet you gonna find some people who live
You don’t have to worry if you got no money
The people on the river are happy to give

The children born into home life situations beyond their control and who go to school through wild streets can still be empowered by the rest of us. We can step in to fill one of their voids and give them a real-life story to believe in and something to reach for. Their eyes are the windows to their soul and if they see beyond their circumstances, they can rise above them. Metropolis

Big wheel keep on turnin’
Proud Mary keep on burnin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on a river.

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