HOLD ON!

Hang on to the world as it spins around....

Just don't let the spin get you down

Nevermind your fear! Hold on Tight and He'll be Here

Take it from me someday we'll all Be Free!

Donnie Hathaway 1972

Did you hang the sky from it's shelf? Did you teach the eagle how to fly? Then by what power do you dare complain? Book of Job

She's come undone!

She didn't know what she was headed for

and when she saw what she was headed for it was too late.

It's too late she's gone to far she's lost the sun

She's come undone. The Zombies 1968

Hang on! I read about this man who when fired from his job, and killed himself and his family. He had two sets of twins and a single. I'm sure he loved his wife, his kids and his life. I didn't want to post on this and wasn't gonna. I'm trying to keep it light. My Wife, My friend asked me to talk about this. I didn't want to cause it disturbs me.

NPR reported that he and his wife had been fired from Kaiser Hospital because they allegedly lied on an application about their income while trying to get assistance with child care. He was maxed out on credit cards, he was a month behind on his mortgage and owed something like 15K in taxes.

He reached out for help and according to the local police he had packed the families clothes and snow chains in the SUV in order to move across country with relatives.

Who's to blame Mista Jaycee?

Does it matter at this point? Right now, just think on that a moment. He got married, had five babies and he owned a home. He lost the job and the home, he was broke and had no prospects of being un-broke anytime soon plus he had seven mouths to feed.

But what about his wife Mista Jaycee? Didn't she work too? Wasn't she fired too? Didn't she have five babies too? Wasn't she in debt up to her eyelids too Mista Jaycee?

Yeah! She was!

He was a man though. MAN M-A-N! He was supposed to be able to take care of his wife and his kids no matter what? A Job J-O-B is what helps a M-A-N define his identity!

Dr. Iyala Van Zant in her book The Spirit of A Man talks about the internal differences between a Man and a Woman.

Yeah, Mista Jaycee! A Womb versus a Penis, more muscle tone versus more fat storing potential, the rounding of the hips versus fur where there was no fur. Like from his ears and back and her chin and chest. We get it Mista Jaycee!

No! You Don't! Although, some of that's true!

Dr. Van Zant speaks of the spirit saying that girls are allowed just to BE and boys are taught what to DO.

BE: This speaks of the essence. A Woman is sad, she cries. She's Afraid, she shows it! A girl is allowed to BE what she is.

Boys are taught to DO.

How does a M-A-N walk? Talk? If a Boy cries he gets "Boy stop being a PUNK!" If a boys afraid he can not show it! Ever!

A Man Works! He Brings home the Money! The life force that helps to sustain the family! If he can't. Then he ain't a Man. That's what boys are taught and society does more than it part to re-enforce that notion. In reality the Man's relationship with his family is what drives the family and helps to sustain them. A Spiritual Man such as, A Christian or Muslim, for example, knows that it is his God that sustains him.

A Man is his job. It is part of his identity. If he is a carpenter and suddenly he's paralysed and can't lift, hammer or carry then that affects his Psyche. Dig?

Men are not encouraged enough to get into the INTERNAL. The Spirit. That means a relationship with God or A Higher Power or Spiritual Consciousness. See, that needs to be planted and cultivated.

I think that all those factors took their toll on dude. The couple was denied unemployment and it was on appeal. But in the meantime things were getting worse and jobs were laying off not hiring.

I think he lost it! He felt he didn't have a way out! Maybe he felt his killing his wife and babies was an act of mercy. Maybe dude, felt, he felt now, that maybe his wife would leave and take the babies. She might be able to start again you know. Go to live with her family instead of the humiliation of living with his.

He might have been feeling humiliated! He had a job, a woman, five babies, a house, a truck, he was living the dream! He was the Man!

Now, he jobless, soon to be homeless, broke and seven mouths to feed. He felt he wasn't a M-A-N anymore. He was powerless. He was vulnerable. He was afraid! He had nothing to fall back on. He fell apart!

I wish the Brother didn't do it!

But the point of all this is for the next M-A-N not to DO it! There is a God (IAM) that is a sustain er. Do I know the way out of this economic hell? No! But I DO know that Black folks have survived worse. We did it by keeping the faith of our ancestors! That Ole Time Religion that Grandma gave you. We stuck together with our NEIGHBORS and OUR FAMILY and we helped each other out!

Hummm! We Trusted in our God! We Relied on our Community! NEIGHBORS PLUS FAMILY EQUALS COMMUNITY!

There will be light at the end of this mess!

May the God I AM THAT I AM In the Name of Yeshua, who in John 11 declares Before Abraham Was.....I AM bless you and keep you and have mercies on the families affected by this tragedy.

HOLD ON!

BE MINDFUL! BE CAREFUL! BE PRAYERFUL!

Jaycee