Come On Store and Bodega Owners, You Can Do Better Than That!

Toy pellet gun being sold in bodegas and stores that
are now being brought to school by students 

Over the past couple of days I've had to levy consequences to a few students who decided to bring this toy pellet gun to school. Not only did they bring the gun, it was loaded with the little hard plastic pellets that come along with the gun.

The consequences were swift and serious. The parents of each child was called along with the police and  five day out of school suspensions were issued. The parents were totally unaware that their children had purchased this toy let alone brought it to school with them. They were less than pleased when they had to surrender their identification information to the police along with their child's name to be filed on a police report. The children had no clue of the danger they were placing themselves in by carrying the realistic looking toy gun. The police described how some children and adults go as far as to paint the little orange tip on the end black, making the toy look even more real. Conversely, you have some perpetrators who paint the tip of their real guns orange to make police or victims think that it is a toy gun.

When the children were asked where they obtained the toy, they all named various local stores and bodegas hence the title of this post asking the store owners given our current atmosphere with gun violence, can't you do any better than that? It's my understanding that these toys cost anywhere from $1 to $2 in these little bodegas, corner stores and dollar stores. I say again to the owners, can't you do any better than that? Is it that much profit to be made from selling the "guns solve everything" mentality. These same children who will become comfortable shooting these hard plastic pellets, will be the same children who will become teenagers and adults who are comfortable with shooting real bullets, not to mention, the little plastic pellets can take an eye out with ease and give a pretty good sting if you are hit with it.

One of the police officers who visited the bodega to encourage the store owner to drop this product shared with the owner that these same pellet guns that she is selling could one day wind up being used to stick up the very same bodega that the kids purchased it from. Good point!! We are becoming our own worst enemies.
When are we going to wake up? Parents please pay attention to what your children are doing because the life you save may be your child. Something to critically think about. I invite you to listen to me live Saturday mornings at 6 a.m. ET on www.gobrave.org and follow me on Twitter @thinkcritical01.

Schools Aren't The Only Place Where Climate and Culture Needs To Be Addressed

The 8 researched based Turnaround Principles to the left were developed to transform failing schools into successful schools. If you notice, School Climate and Culture is second only to School Leadership and even before Effective Instruction. Now that's something to critically think about. According to the ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development), although the two terms (climate and culture) are somewhat interchangeable, school climate refers mostly to the school's effects on students, whereas school culture refers more to the way teachers and other staff members work together.

My premise for this post, however, is schools are not the only place where climate and culture needs to be addressed. Climate and culture must be addressed in our homes, in our local, state, and national governments, churches, and quite frankly in our society/world in general. I seriously considered providing some examples, but the truth of the matter is, all one has to do is to look at the news or read the newspaper in order to see that our society in general sorely lacks climate and culture especially if we take the ASCD definition and change the words to fill in the blanks in terms of effects on people and the way people work and get along with each other. Try it. Take any of the entities I mentioned such as the home, government, churches, etc. and see if the definition would work. I'm sure like me, you will find that each entities effects on people and way each group works together is in dire need.

One could surmise, postulate, or assume that the dysfunctional or lack of  climate and culture in our schools is just a derivative or a microcosm of the larger climate and culture dysfunction within our homes and society. I don't think that it is too far of an imaginative stretch to think that what we are seeing is not just an issue in our schools. As a child my parents drummed into my psyche that "It starts in the home," with the "It" being everything that manifests into the larger society. Take a look around us at the societal degradation that has taken place over time.

Monday, January 20th was the commemoration for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth, and on that day I watched video after video of the American Civil Rights Movement and speech after speech of  Rev. King and thought to myself, did all of those people do all that they did for us to actually be moving backwards in 2014? Think about the climate and culture of our society in 2014. With everything that is available to us in 2014, we certainly ought to be treating each other better. We certainly ought to be able to work together better as politicians and leaders than what we are witnessing. We certainly ought to have more functional homes, yet families are becoming more and more dysfunctional everyday.

Yes, I say to you my friends that when you take a look around, you too will see that schools are not the only place where climate and culture needs to be addressed. You are invited to follow The Critical Thinker on Twitter @thinkcritical01 and hear me live each Saturday morning at 6 a.m. ET on gobrave.org as host of The Reading Circle. The climate and culture of our world is something to critically think about.

What If We Were To Place People Over Profit (The Almighty Dollar)?

My biggest tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today will be to share his sermon "Why Jesus Called a Man a Fool," and pose the question for all of us to critically think about. How would the world be if we were to place "people" over "profit?"   Happy Birthday Martin Luther King, Jr.




You are invited to join The Critical Thinker each Saturday morning at 6 a.m. ET on gobrave.org (WP88.7 FM) and follow on Twitter @thinkcritical01.

And We Wonder Why People Are Doing The Things That They Are Doing

"I bust the windows out your car
And no it didn't mend my broken heart
I'll probably always have these ugly scars
But right now I don't care about that part
I bust the windows out your car
After I saw you laying next to her
I didn't wanna but I took my turn
I'm glad I did it cuz you had to learn
I must admit it helped a little bit
To think of how you'd feel when you saw it
I didn't know that I had that much strength
But I'm glad you'll see what happens when
You see you can't just play with people's feelings
Tell them you love them and don't mean it
You'll probably say that it was juvenile
But I think that I deserve to smile
I bust the windows out your car
You know I did it cause I left my mark
Wrote my initials with a crow bar
And then I drove off into the dark
I bust the windows out your car
You should feel lucky that that's all I did
After five whole years of this bullshit
Gave you all of me and you played with it
I must admit it helped a little bit
To think of how you'd feel when you saw it
I didn't know that I had that much strength
But I'm glad you'll see what happens when
You see you can't just play with people's feelings
Tell them you love them and don't mean it
You'll probably say that it was juvenile
But I think that I deserve to smile
I bust the windows out your car
But it don't compare to my broken heart
You could never feel how I felt that day
Until that happens baby you don't know pain
Yea, I did it, you should know it
I ain't sorry, you deserved it
After what you did you deserved it
I ain't sorry, no
You broke my heart, so I broke your car
You caused me pain, so I did the same
Even though what you did was much worse
I had to do something to make you hurt, yea
Oh, but why am I still crying
Why am I the one whose still crying
Oh, oh, you really hurt me baby
You really, you really hurt me babe
I bust the windows out your car"

*******************************************

 I remember being young and so brave
I knew what I needed
I was spending all my nights and days laid back day dreaming.
But look at me Im a big girl now, so I'm gon' do something
Told the world I would paint this town
Now Bet'cha I run this.
Cause I put it (down like that down like that)
And I'm making (all these racks all these racks)
And I'm moving (round like that round like that)
When I do it (And don't look back don't look back).
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want.
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want.
I can be bad if I want
I can be grown if I want
I can live fast if I want
I can go slow all night long.
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want.
They love the way I walk
'Cause I walk with a vengeance
And they listen to me when I talk 'cause I ain't pretending
It took a while, now I understand just where I'm going
I know the world and I know who I am
'Bout time I show it.
Cause I put it (down like that down like that)
And I'm making (all these racks all these racks)
And I'm moving (round like that round like that)
And I do it (And don't look back don't look back).
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want.
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want.
I can be bad if I want
I can say what I want
I can live fast if I want
I can go slow all night long.
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want.
Whatever it is.
I'm a grown woman
Someone know how to ride it.
I'm a grown woman
I'm so erotic.
I'm a grown woman
Look down that you're so exited.
I'm a grown woman
Look at my body.
It ain't no fun,
If a girl can't have none
You really wanna know how I got it like that
'Cause I got a cute face and my booty so fat,
Go girl!
She got that bomb (that bomb)
Hey girl, he'll get whatever she wants.
Go girl (Hey girl),
She got that tight (that tight).
Them boys,
They do whatever she like.
I'm a grown woman
I'm a grown woman
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want
I can do whatever I want
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want
I can do whatever I want
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want
I'm a grown woman
I can do whatever I want
I'm a grown woman

Above are the lyrics from two songs that our young and not so young listen to. BUST YOUR WINDOWS by Jazmine Sullivan and GROWN WOMAN by Beyonce. Read the words. This is what we are listening to. This is what we are taking into our spirits. And we wonder why people are doing the things that they are doing. I know the arguments, debates and excuses.  Something to critically think about. I invite you to follow me on Saturday mornings on gobrave.org beginning at 6 a.m. ET and on Twitter @thinkcritical01.

Love Thyself

"Self-esteem is your overall opinion of yourself — how you honestly feel about your abilities and limitations. When you have healthy self-esteem, you feel good about yourself and see yourself as deserving the respect of others. When you have low self-esteem, you put little value on your opinions and ideas. You might constantly worry that you aren't "good enough." Discussions about self-esteem often are centered on children. However, many adults could benefit from improving their self-esteem."    Mayo Clinic Staff

Earlier this week I had my annual physical exam and one of the questions the doctor asked me was if I had had any suicidal thoughts or had been severely depressed since my last exam? My immediate response to her was "absolutely not, because I love me some me."  We both had a good laugh and shared an "I know that's right" moment, however, as I thought more about it when I returned home, it occurred to me that not everyone would be able to give that response. I thought about how most of the issues we face in society today can be traced to the low self esteem of individuals. If you read/follow this blog, then you know I am constantly speaking/writing against the negative terms in which too many of us call ourselves and each other (bitch, nigger, etc. etc.), yet when you really think about it, one's self esteem has to be very low in order to engage in that destructive and self hating behavior.

 The Bible instructs us to "Love others as well as you love yourself," thereby explaining why we have so much hatred, killing, anger, stealing, tattooing, negative name calling, body piercing, vulgar lyric-ed music, etc. etc. etc. Too many of us really don't love ourselves and treat others the same way we feel about ourselves --Ugly. As you listen to the first few sound bites of any local or national newscast or read the newspaper, it is evident that too many us put little value on the lives of others because we put little value on our own opinions, ideas, and lives.

If you are reading this and feel that you would not be able to confidently give the response I gave to my doctor at the beginning of the post (be honest with yourself), please visit the following links for possible suggestions/activities that you can choose to engage(Don't just read them - put them into practice):

Building Self-esteem - A Self-Help Guide

Building Confidence and Self-Esteem -17 simple suggestions for building confidence and self-esteem.

13 Tips to Building Self Esteem

50 Things You Can Do To Improve Your Self-Esteem

If we are unable to help everyone see the impact that loving ones self has on everything and everyone else, then we will continue to experience rate increases in hatred, killing, anger, stealing, tattooing, negative name calling, body piercing, vulgar lyric-ed music, etc. etc. etc.(all of these are forms of self-hatred). As these rates continue to rise, even those of us who have healthy self esteems will have our quality of life shot to Hell. I quote Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. often and he said "Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality." As the numbers of individuals with low self esteem increase, we will all be affected. Something to critically think about. I invite you to listen to The Critical Thinker live as he hosts The Reading Circle each Saturday morning beginning at 6 a.m. ET on gobrave.org. You are also welcomed to follow along on Twitter @thinkcritical01.

We Must Do This In 2014

Pinky: Gee, Brain, what do you want to do this year?

Brain: The same thing we do every year, Pinky - try to encourage the world to think!

Welcome to a new year. During 2014, let's be sure we move beyond the sound bite and beyond what we are fed. Let each individual ask him/herself, "Does that make sense to me?"  If the answer is "no," let's be bold enough to investigate further and take a stand. Let's impact some of the madness we see occurring in our society today by thinking and creating solutions.  I invite you to listen to The Critical Thinker live hosting The Reading Circle each Saturday morning beginning at 6 a.m. ET on www.gobrave.org (WP88.7 FM) and follow on Twitter @thinkcritical01. Let's make 2014 a GREAT year!