by Harriet Hairston

There is no rhyme or reason to this article.   I just wanted to express how much  I learned over the weekend, and what a life changing time I had.

On Saturday,  my husband and I completed a business deal that gave us a little residual income that allowed us to get out of town for  the rest of the weekend.   It was truly a blessing.    Once we completed our deal, we hit the road  on our way to Jackson, MS to watch Janks Morton present his “Men II Boys” documentary and lecture.   Don’t tell  Mr. Morton, but the real reason we went was to meet the living legend, Lamar Tyler in the flesh!   He was there recording the lecture.    Although meeting Lamar was our primary reason for going, we learned quite a bit at the lecture:

1.   I learned how crucial it is to walk by faith and not sight, and how trusting in the latter can trip a person up.    Although that was not the topic of Mr. Morton’s lecture, it was still a lesson learned, and let me tell you why.    My family and I walked into a dark auditorium with little to no residual lighting.   We came from a bright environment to almost total darkness.   It takes my eyes a long time to acclimate to darkness like that, so I trusted in the row directly in front of me to understand the seating arrangement.    As I was easing my behind down the aisle to find a seat, wouldn’t you know that the rows in front of me had no  space between them, but the  row I was on did?   So with all my weight and all my might, I  sat down on…NOTHING.   That was one moment where I  fought gravity and came out with a big  “L” on my record!   Through that lesson, I learned that it is important to be able to  laugh at yourself, and also to look before you leap (or in my case, sit).

2.   Thankfully it was dark in the auditorium, so no one but my husband, son and kind gentleman sitting on the same row saw me fall.     I was able to gather myself and actually enjoy the documentary, which leads me to my second lesson learned.   My husband  never laid eyes on his father, and this documentary  actual put words and pictures to  pain that  he  was  not able to articulate to me.   I respected him MORE for being the father and husband he is, especially given the fact that he had very few examples to look up to in that area.   Just as I groped in the darkness  trying to find my place in that auditorium, he did the same in life, only gravity did not win!   My husband overcame because of his unshakable faith in God.

3.   As Mr. Morton got up to speak,  he  articulated what I suspected all along: the plight of the African-American community rests solely in the hands of those within that community.   He profoundly stated that  he was not interested in solving  the  economic, educational or health care gap  in the black community until the gap between black men and women–more specifically, black mothers and fathers–was forever cemented back to a state of unity and respect.   *Standing Ovation* for  Mr. Janks Morton!

4.   When the lecture was over,  Lamar caught up with us to record our thoughts about  the doc.   He then introduced us to Mr. Morton after we had purchased our copies of  the book and DVD associated with the movement. I was so excited about meeting both  him and Lamar for the first time that I completely failed to mention my own book!   Now keep in mind, I LOVE to see other people shine.   It does my heart well to support positive resources for black families and  communities…but I’m part of that movement as well, and for a split second, I forgot!   So  we sang Mr. Morton’s praises without connecting with him about our own resources.   Ugh…Lamar called me out  big time on that.   So I took some time to observe how he networked himself at the event.   The man is a smooth operator, you hear me?   He  wove his way in and out of the  crowd, listening intently  to the presentations of others, and then agreeing with them and  giving out business cards which explained how important  his  own project is.

5.   Finally, we went to a church out of town on Sunday, and I learned that in  many cases, relationships  are made of one or two  entities:   a balloon and a weight.   Typically, a balloon  filled  with helium wants to fly high towards the heavens, but many times there is a weight holding it down and  preventing it from  doing so.   I found that to be an awesome analogy, because I recently rid myself of “weighty” relationships that did nothing but hold me back…you know, the kind of people who piss  on your parade, then lie and tell you it was just raining.   LOL   A great lesson to learn!

All in all, the past 48 hours have been the most rewarding I’ve had in a long time.   I had fun, laughed at myself and my husband, exposed our son to some culture,  met  two living legends, and truly enjoyed the company of my family.   It just doesn’t get any better than that!

God bless!

~ Harriet

Harriet Hairston  is a woman who slips and slides in and out of labels (military officer, human resource manager, minister, mentor, spoken word artist and  teacher).   The only ones that have stuck so far are “wife” and “mother”  (the most important  in her estimation).  The rest have taught her well that only what she does for Christ will last.   She  joyously writes for the site Black and Married with Kids and her own blog entitled “Can She SAY That?!?”    There is one more permanent label she holds:    “author.”   You can purchase her first book,  “Who Are You?”   simply by clicking on the link or going to https://www.createspace.com/3430012.   You can also contact her at [email protected].