It is very sad that I am finally starting this blog (which I promised myself I would start only a few years back) because of an incident that happened today that cost the life of a friend who I can call a brother.
It is also a good thing because I can take an example from his life and start applying it to mine.
If there is one thing Kwasi (he hates that name) did well. It was "Living". I know a lot of brilliant folk who do well in school and stay in their books and remain in their books but not Joseph... Homeboy was naturally brilliant and I'm pretty sure he studied and all that good stuff but it the short while I hung with him, it was never a dull moment.
Now apart from being a smart dude, homie also had DREAMS.... Dreams that he had already started to accomplish. Besides going to school to become successful, he also rapped. In the 2 years I spent living in Marietta, I had a chance to listen to a few tracks of his and I can stand up for him in front of anyone and brag that "we got one on our team and he is gonna be a great". He also had a radio show at one time which I was privileged to be a guest at one point.
It is so sad and scary and I am picking up the little courage I have left to write this but I want to use this medium to address a few things concerning me and anyone who reads this especially the notoriously popular group that we all fall under in Atlanta, GA as a default by region. Of course, I am talking about the African Atlanta Community. (AAC).
Like I said earlier, I have been starting this blog for a long time now and it is one of my many dreams that just happened but never had a follow through. I have many dreams that I would love to accomplish and what has happened today is a reminder that "Life is Short" and you should make the most of it while you are still here.
FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS PEOPLE!!!! AND BE REMEMBERED FOR SOMETHING GOOD!!!!
I had to do that because that is exactly how i feel right now. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. Wherever you end up in your endeavors, you will have the satisfaction that you at least followed your dreams and your heart.
The other thing I would like to really stress also is that Life is too short for us to be beefing, squabbling, fighting and partaking in all kinds of negative activities that do nothing but take away from us. I am no saint in this department but we all gotta start somewhere. I have been on twitter for about 3 years now and I have seen some good things manifest among my Africans in this city of Atlanta which is great and I encourage positive peeps to stay positive and keep doing what it is they do so well. Y'all inspire me!! But then on the other hand the negativity on Twitter alone overshadows most of the good things that happen on Twitter. Most of y'all might not like this but this has been on my mind for a while and I just had to find a way to pour out the emotion that I am feeling right now. I stand corrected but for as long as I have been on twitter and followed stories about the AAC, there have been more negative things happening on the social network than positive things and I will not go into details about that. What I can say is that because of this negativity, a lot of us (myself included) disassociated ourselves from the group claiming we have nothing to do with it but in reality, we are Africans and we do live in Atlanta right??? Oh by the way, this is just what happens on twitter. The events of the real world situations also have a part to play in this situation but I digress...
The point I am trying to make is that AFRICA is a strong continent and sooner or later, every single one of us youth will have some type of impact that would either make the continent stronger or weaker. That choice is ours and we can choose to either remain negative, stagnant or positive.
You really want to have an AAC?
Start acting like brothers and sisters and helping each other out when any one of ours is in need.
Start reaching out to our younger Africans in the city of Atlanta and lend a hand to help them become successful like some of you already are and all of us will be someday hopefully.
Come together as an actual community and raise awareness in issues that really matter and have a positive impact on the city of Atlanta as Africans.
If things like this actually happened, then maybe a lot of people would start taking the AAC seriously and it could actually become something big that we can all be proud of.
This has been on my mind for a while and some of my close friends can attest to the way I feel about
issues of the African Atlanta youth.
Life is too short!!!! I can't stress this enough
Follow and Live your Dreams!!!
R.I.P to a boss who I have no doubt in my mind followed his dreams!!!!
R.I.P Joseph Jayman Kessie!!!
God Bless Us All!!!
BigTyme Out ....
