Will Smith Wisdom

Ray: I’m a big fan of Will Smith. His success is in the most difficult industry to obtain greatness is certainly no fluke. Take a few moments to listen to his philosophy. Like, really listen.

Ray Discovers Frank Ocean

Learn and Grow Happy

Ray: I am what many people would consider to be “over the hill.” That’s right, I’m an old man. At the ripe old age of 27, I have already lived a full life. I’ve experienced love and heartbreak, success and failure, and even became a father. I’ve seen my elders get older and I stood by haplessly as loved ones passed away. I’ve graduated from a great university only to take jobs that had nothing to do with my major. In fact, I’ve even changed careers 3 times. I’ve seen best friends become strangers and new friends become brothers and sisters of mine. I’ve been robbed, cheated, and lied to. I’ve even done some cheating and lying myself. In short, I’ve seen a lot, did a lot, and have learned from it all. But after speaking with many different people, I have realized that too many of us go through life and ignore all of the beautiful lessons that God has intertwined in this wonderfully complex but brief experience.

There are so many different places I can go with this conversation but I think I’ll stick to a very important theory that has definitely held true in my life. I believe that there is no progress without a struggle. And while many people accept that as a truth, they often neglect the point of the struggle. The struggle is where the growth occurs. The struggle is where the lessons should be learned and where maturity is bolstered. The catch is, you really have to train yourself to find the lesson hidden within the struggle and apply it to how you live life. If you fail to do this, then you will continue to struggle with that particular part of your life and progress will come to a complete halt.

Take for example the case of the broken heart. Having your heart broken can be one of the most devastating life experiences one can endure. It requires that you first invest all of your being into a relationship with someone that you imagine someday being a life partner. And then for whatever reason, that relationship gets broken. Your trust, your happiness, your faith in all things possible is suddenly crushed and you are left there all alone wondering how you’re supposed to continue living (or am I speaking for myself?). Why would God allow such a sour and desolate mindset to exist and flourish in the midst of loss? Well, I believe events like this happen in order for you to grow and reach a level of happiness in the future that you never thought was possible.

Circumstances like broken hearts, death, losing a job, and many other events always lead to questions. Why me? What did I do to deserve this? How could I have avoided this? While every individual’s case is different, there are fundamental reasons to why these events happen.  In the case of the broken heart, the first thing to notice is that you indeed are capable of experiencing love. There’s a reason that the phrase, “it is better to have loved and lost then to have never loved before” has lasted for hundreds of years. It’s true! Understand that you are built to give and receive love. And it truly is a wonderful thing. Just imagine a time when you can share that with the person you will spend the rest of your life with. Awesome.

But why the heart-ache? From my own experience, I can say that I have learned a great deal about myself while being heart broken. It made me think about all of the qualities about myself that drove love away. I was brave enough to dig deep and explicitly name those faults of mine which weren’t conducive for a successful relationship. As a result, I know that because of that experience, I would not allow those same problems to creep into my marriage (if that ever happens). Not only that, but I also realized what it was about my partner that caused me to act the way I did. As a result, I will most certainly avoid those qualities to the best of my abilities if ever I decide to settle down with a mate. Had I not learned those lessons, it’s very plausible that the two of us could have stayed together longer and missed out on living much happier lives with the people that fit us best.

The same theory can be applied to any other situation. When you take the time to find the lessons within a time of struggle, you will undoubtedly learn what it takes to move closer towards fulfilling your true potential in life. Also, many of the things you currently have need to be removed in order to make room for those things you need. In this regard, to struggle is to be truly blessed. You come out of it stronger, smarter, happier, and sexier than ever before.

Learn from the ups and downs of your life. Oddly enough, they ultimately teach you how to make your ups higher and your downs shorter.

Antonio “L.A.” Reid: Charlie Rose Interview

Ray: If I could choose any job in the world, it would be the one belonging to Antonio “L.A.” Reid. Although I remember hearing Andre 3000 mention his name in an old Outkast song, I never knew who he was until I considered a career in the music business. But after hearing terrible song after terrible song on the radio and stupid video after stupid video on television, I became uninterested in pursuing a career in the music business. However, I must say that after listening to this interview he brings up a lot of the same feelings I once had in college. Anyone looking for a behind the scenes career in music should definitely know about L.A. Reid. He’s pretty inspirational:

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Fire Up the Grill Baby!!

Ray: Barbeque season is upon us. I don’t know about where you’re from, but in Southern California the people love to cook things on the grill. It doesn’t matter what it is either; chicken, steak, clams, tennis shoes… just add sauce and we’re in business.

I’m not sure if we’ve done any other food articles on this blog, but people in the United States take are BBQs seriously. As such, I thought it be nice to shed light on a pretty cool sight that’s all about grill. GrilledSensations.net is a great site for recipes, techniques, and the best equipment out there. There’s even a store there to buy some of the things you read about. In all, it’s a good site to know about.

From the White House to my house, we’ll all be eating off the grill. Keep it saucy.

The Boondocks Goes In on Tyler Perry… Pause.

Ray: I already said what I had to say about Tyler Perry in a post last year. But I had to post what my favorite cartoon said about the media mogul. For the record, I still like Tyler Perry but this is funny:

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To Spit or Not to Spit on Christopher Columbus’ Grave.

Ray: As a youth in the United States public school system, I was taught to view Christopher Columbus as the great Spanish explorer who boldly set out to prove that the world was round. I was even given a neat little phrase to help me remember this fact about Christopher Columbus should any questions about him appear on a pop quiz: “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” And that was it. That’s all I knew about Christopher Columbus. Well, that and the fact that every second Monday of October, we as a nation celebrate Columbus Day. The kids love it.

As as adult and one who is passionate about the truth in history, I have to come to understand a completely different Christopher Columbus than the guy I thought I knew all my life. As it turns out, Christopher Columbus wasn’t even close to being the first person to proclaim that the world was round. That credit probably belongs to the Greek philosopher Pythagoras who came to that conclusion almost 2,000 years before Columbus. So now that that’s out of the way, what’s next?

Well, Columbus didn’t exactly set out to prove the world was round. Like most people who are inspired to do great things, Columbus needed money. He convinced King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Spain to finance his trip so that he could bring back gold and spices from Asia. In return, he was to receive 10% of all that he found, governorship over any uncharted islands he discovered, and the prestigious title of Admiral of the Ocean Sea. How’s that for incentive? So with Spain’s backing, he set off into the sunset with the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria.

Here’s where things really get messy and made me question the quality of our education of history in the United States.

When Columbus reached the Americas (expecting Asia), he was greeted by the Arawaks of the Bahama Islands. Without going into detail of the Arawak people, I think this excerpt from Columbus’ log paints a great picture of his reception and his thoughts:

They… brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawk’s bells. They willingly traded everything they owned.. They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features… They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”

I don’t know about you, but that was NOT the Christopher Columbus I learned about and celebrated since I was a child. But these are his own words! As soon as he discovers that these are peaceful and welcoming people, he plots to overtake them and enslave them.

With that said, in just a few years, the Spaniards killed hundreds of thousands of Indians on Haiti, the Dominican Republic (both of which were once refereed to as the island of Hispaniola in those days), Cuba, and the Bahamas. In fact, during the Columbus conquest, a young priest from Spain who was present at the time named Bartolome de las Casas, gives a very unique report on what happened. His account is so chilling that I will give you a few passages to consider:

… Two of these so-called Christians met two Indian boys one day, each carrying a parrot; they took the parrots and for fun beheaded the boys…

… mountains are stripped from top to bottom and bottom to top a thousand times; they dig, split rocks, move stones, and carry dirt on their backs to wash it in rivers, while those who was gold stay in the water all the time with their backs bent so constantly it breaks them; and when water invades the mines, the most arduous task of all is to dry the mines by scooping up pansful of water and throwing it up outside…

After each six or eight month’s work in the mines, which was the time required of each crew to dig enough gold for melting, up to a third of the men died. While the men were sent many miles away to the mines, the wives remained to work the soil, forced into the excruciating job of digging and making thousands of hills for cassava plants.

Thus husbands and wives were together only once every eight or ten months and when they met they were so exhausted and depressed on both sides… they ceased to procreate. As for the newly born, they died early because their mothers, overworked and famished, had no milk to nurse them, and for this reason, while I was in Cuba, 7,000 children died in three months. Some mothers even drowned their babies from sheer desperation… In this way, husbands died in the mines, wives died at work, and children died from lack of milk… .and in a short time this land which was great, so powerful, so fertile… was depopulated… My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write…

Funny how they never mentioned that in 3rd grade when I was making stupid Thanksgiving ornaments.

Of course the story continues, millions of indigenous people die in the Americas, and today we have McDonalds and the Super Bowl. Don’t get me wrong, I love the United States and all its flaws very much. But it breaks my heart to think of the atrocities against mankind and the environment that we have been committing on this great land since the Europeans settled here.  For a “civilized” people, those Europeans were a bunch of money hungry, blood thirsty, Godless savages and it is unfortunate that many of their severe character flaws still linger on in society today.

You can’t change history but at least it should be fairly represented. Knowing what I know now, I cannot let my son grow up thinking that Christopher Columbus was some noble adventurer who discovered America. The truth is, he was none of that. He was Hitler with a sail boat. I just thought you should know.