TBT: When I was in 10th grade, I started my way up on the corporate ladder at a very high end establishment, Burger King...you may have heard of it. It was in Little Rock AR. I worked with my partner in rap, Rawdacious Roy (drive thru) and another young man a year older than us, Fred. Fred was literally the nicest person I had ever met. Everything about him was kind. It was weird because one day in walked a guy who looked JUST LIKE him. THIS was his identical twin Darrel. While Fred chose to be nice and kind, Darrel made different choices. He was always involved in gang shootings and robberies. They lived in one of the most horrific environments you could imagine. Their family life was so bad that I didnt question why Darrel was so bad, I questioned why Fred was so good. The unique thing about Fred is that he lost his right leg from the knee down at an early age. This caused him to walk with a limp. You would think that, visually, this would be the way to tell the difference between the two brothers (not saying brothers because they were black... That would be racist,) but Nay. Darrels walk was still identical to Freds....why, because he walked with a gangsta lean. As we were at school, there would constantly be guys coming up to Fred and threatening him because they mistook him for Darrel. I would always have to step and and say This is isnt Darrel. This is his brother Fred. I promise you. I will take his leg off and kick you in the face with it right now!. I often wondered why Fred decided to have a positive attitude toward life. But then later I read a passage written by Paul the Apostle and it lined up with this. He talked about how he had these 2 identities fighting for domination in his life. It reminded me of Fred and Darrel......and the rest of us. Even though Fred and Darrel were two completely different people. There was one identity screwing everything up for the other. That is what Paul was talking about. The thing I want to do is the thing I dont do, yet the thing I hate, is the thing I do. Its like he (and the rest of us) had 2 identities working against each other. THE NEW YOU (this is the Fred. The person we should and want to be) and THE SCREW YOU (the Darrel. Ther person who is screwing things up for you). If you are like me, both of these are very much alive inside you. It is a daily battle between as to which Identity will win. We want the New You to rise up and succeed but then the Screw You starts to act out. I have found that the only way to be the person I want to be is to ignore the thoughts and desires of the Screw You I dont want to be (still with me?) So today, when the Darrel you shows up. Trying to screw everything up. Do your best to ignore that Identity. Do your best to Focus on the Fred. What would Fred do? Feed that thought and act out on it. Because that is who you want and are meant to be. New You vs Screw You... Its your choice Just a thought. Rock on guys elijah
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 15:22:32 +0000
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