Asante Jones
Bio
Stories (15/0)
Unbeknownst to Me
“Past months have gone by here to present day, I think to myself what’s next, show me the way. Unbeknownst to me when I decided to take this shift, that I would become closer to you through this Holy writ. I continue to learn and grow although over time I do wonder, will what become clear to me come from my dream slumbers. Incertitude lingers. Through tribulations tranquility was within me and remains with your spirit. I have sought out your creation, nature, for stillness and merit. Gracefully in a good place now by you, I stay connected and steadfast in faith, until you lead me to where you want me, a place that you formulate.”
By Asante Jones2 years ago in Poets
Faceless Reaction
A kid walks down the hall in a high school and gets stopped by a random person. "Hey, man, did you hear what so and so was saying about you?" No, what did that person say? Well, he was saying, etc., etc., expletive this. After the random person finishes explaining the diatribe of what was said, the person then looks at the kid, who has nothing but a faceless expression on his face. Well, what do you have to say about that? The kid then finally gives a glimpse of a small smile and speaks. "Nothing"? What!!! Nothing? "Yeah, nothing" Well, aren't you going to at least do or say this? "No" Where's your pride? If someone said that about me, I would be livid! Lol, okay, let me stop here. I have more to write; I want to say something about the question, "Where's your pride"? and the redundant statement "if someone said that about me." I often hear these two things in situations I've gone through and others that had nothing to do with me. It's redundant and annoying; in my opinion, society and we get so much jolt from the reaction. It's a particular stimulus like a drug that we need to feel something. Now, what that feeling is, I don't know. I'm not in a million people's heads and thoughts to know. Okay, okay, I'm getting off-topic somewhat. Back to the notion of pride. Who determines if you have pride or not? Indeed, not any individual that says you don't, because you don't react the way they want you to or what's the norm, or like the robotic way, everyone else does. I say that pride doesn't leave you if you don't respond to something negative about yourself. We as people must exercise control and not let others control how we react. It's when you choose to exercise power that others try to take it away from you. By saying everything we have heard before, "man, if someone said that about me," "Are you just going to let him or her talk to you like that or about you." That's when you know you got them, and when you do, tell them this. I will not support you or you guys' drug habit. If you want to get high-off reactions, go to WWE, and listen or do some promos. Life isn't a movie where you must do or say something scripted in sequence because it is the norm of societal thinking. What I'm saying is go off script, don't do what they want. If you do, you will run the risk of having something spiral out of control that could have been avoided entirely. If a comment or banter is about you, let it go, most of the time, it is someone you don't even know, so why give them the power to control your response or provoke you. Now I'm not saying there's only one way to handle how you react by doing it this way. For those that would say this, sometimes you must stick up for yourself, and you can't just let people walk all over you. I completely understand that and agree that there will be times when you have to defend yourself; not all situations are created equal. Everyone is different; I believe that it's essential to make sure that you are the one who is in control of how things will play out. And not others who oppress you or instigate something. And importantly, individuals telling you that you are less of a man or woman because you didn't follow the norm and react. Be content with who you are, and don't worry about what people say about you if you don't respond or do what is expected. You'll find a lot more peace and comfort in doing this than you would anything else, I'm sure.
By Asante Jones3 years ago in Humans
CP3's Concluded Drought
June 30th, 2021, was one of the best days for me. I finally saw my favorite NBA player get to the NBA finals. "CP3", game six of the western conference finals, dropped 41 points against the Los Angeles Clippers. His scoring prowess in the 4th quarter was truly remarkable. As The dagger 3's he was making continued to go in down the stretch, jubilation, giddiness, and joy came over me. "Finally, he did it. I've followed him across the NBA for every team he's played for, whether via trade or free agency. I've always stuck with him, I wanted him to get a championship so bad, and after 16 long years of tiresome injuries I've seen him go through during his playoff career, he finally pushed through it and gotten over the hump, so to speak. In this playoff run, he battled COVID and played through a bad shoulder, damaged ligaments in his hand. None of that derailed him from his goal, "The NBA Finals" As I'm typing this, I'm thinking back to the early part of his career with the New Orleans Hornets, now called the New Orleans Pelicans. That's when I became a fan of his. The way he led that franchise through the regular season and the playoffs was legendary. Being only 6'0 tall, he was one of the best point guards in my opinion and is the best. I just admired the way he handled the game. He was a wizard with the basketball. His patented underhand swipe dribble in transition on a fastbreak is one of my favorite moves of his. Not to mention he was one of the best passers, the vision, accuracy, the way he set players up for jump shots by putting the ball exactly in their shooting motion, the setting up of layups and dunks. He was electric. Back then, he was one superstar trying to lead a team that was less thought of as a powerhouse in the still strong Western Conference to this day through the playoffs. He faced legendary teams and players like the San Antonio Spurs with Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli, Tony Parker, to the Los Angeles Lakers with the " "Black Mamba" Kobe Bryant god rest his soul, Pau Gasol, Shaquille O'neal. He battled tooth and nail with those teams and almost got his team over the hump, but nonetheless, he acquitted himself well. In the next part of his career, he played with the Los Angeles Clippers; this was another epic milestone; with him at the helm, the team was nicknamed "Lob City" because of his sweet alley-oop passes to Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan. Two great leapers and players in their own rights. The Clippers weren't a powerhouse. In fact, they finished worst in the western conference almost every year and stayed in the lottery. Until the "point god" came and changed the culture, he changed the trajectory of that organization. For most of his tenure, the Clippers were always finishing top 5 in the conference and vying for the best record overall in the Western Conference and the entire NBA! However, unfortunately, like New Orleans, he couldn't pass the second round of the playoffs and sometimes out of the first round. His next team was for the Houston Rockets. He had a similar outcome, played with a hall of fame player James Harden, increased the team's winning percentage, got close to the western conference finals and NBA finals but injuries and bad flameouts were the stories repeatedly. I'll skip past the next team he played for, the Oklahoma City Thunder, because it was repetitive, but as his career progressed, I had to watch my favorite player be traded or made to feel as if he didn't have "it" anymore. Until… this season. His stint with the Phoenix Suns. When he was traded to this team, I didn't know what to think or feel about it. I just knew that I would follow him like I always did, wanting him to succeed. This team had a great player and was already becoming a superstar and is one, Devin Booker. Watching him play with this star was incredible on most nights, the way they fed off one another's abilities, setting each other up, and taking turns dominating a quarter was truly great to see. They finished with one of the best records in the entire NBA. This team was a joy to watch play. They have a lot of great young talent that continues to thrive and get better. And all because of I'm sure you can guess who, CP3. He changed the culture or grew it. This team was already in the playoffs last season and were up in coming, but they still weren't a team that you could pencil into the playoffs. They were young, but Chris being a 16 year veteran in the NBA, having seen and done it all to this point, brought leadership, toughness, and a calming presence to this franchise led by a great coach in Monty Williams, he showed them what it took to win, how to win. As the name suggests, this team continued to "Rise" through the regular season, and when the playoffs came, they only grew more. They have had an incredible run thus far, going like 11-2 overall. I THOUGHT OF ALL THIS when I watched that clock go down to 0 in game 6 of the western conference finals. It was just a long-overdue coronation for one of the best players to ever do it, the best point guard to ever do it, to finally get to the NBA finals and have a chance to play for an NBA championship. I don't know how it'll play out for him and the Phoenix Suns In the NBA finals. Still, regardless I'm excited to watch my favorite player go after what he so strongly coveted for 16 years and have fun doing it playing with a young superstar and teammates and a head coach that is locked in, connected, and ready to seize the moment.
By Asante Jones3 years ago in Longevity
Played And Worn Out Shift
Rough shift ruined the start to my morning on Monday, this almost always happens, I found myself waking up around 11:30pm Sunday night with not nearly enough sleep at all to get ready for my regular shift at 12:30am on Monday. Dreading it I struggled to get up and get ready, contemplating the constant tough times I would have to go through. I looked at my phone multiple times after getting ready. Thinking to myself should I call out today? The reason or excuse I was thinking about putting in my text didn’t matter to me as much as the end result, which was not going in for work today, Not having to endure the constant annoyance or frustration that a typical Monday shift brings I decided not to send the text, the worst decision I made, “I went in again” It seems like I’m a glutton for punishment, The shift was terrible as usual, don’t get me wrong it started out ok because we had a full staff for the first time in like a month, a myriad of workers on our side of the warehouse. Meaning less work being put on me and some of my other coworkers shoulders this time, or so I thought. Little did I know later during the shift that some of our coworkers were going to be allowed to leave “again”, were the reasons justifiable, sure, maybe? I had no idea of the legitimacy of the explanation given to me by my manager as to why, I just knew the result which is the same as every tiring drag on Monday shift, more of a strenuous workload, it never fails, having to monitor and do so much surrounded by the confines of a lot of trailer trucks is so annoying. And getting the same repetitive statement repeatedly as to what we should do to remedy that situation by hearing “We’ll just have to do the best we can” puts me in such a bad temper it makes me want to pull my hair out, if I had any. Really bright statement, that is all we can do is the “best we can” since we are literally left handicapped so to speak when some of our coworkers are told they can go. Seriously I am dumbfounded by what goes on constantly. So, after all this chaos from this day concludes usually around 8:00 or 8 :30 am, I am usually drained and wearing an angry expression on my face. When this happens, I do what I always do, go to the park, and shoot some basketball, or take a walk. During this time of the month its scorching hot out, getting close to summer. So, the weather is ideal for it, but even if it was not, this is still my go to option. Oh, the dreaded Monday 12:30am shift, it is a foregone conclusion I already know what is going to happen as soon as I am waking up to get ready for it, what will transpire inside the workplace. It is almost as if I can picture everything that is going to happen in sequence, I also know the destination I will find myself at afterwards. It is a routine of mine, a sometimes-unfortunate routine, but necessary to relieve the anger I feel towards what goes on there. Sometimes a hoop and a basketball, or a walk in the park is all you need to gather yourself. And most definitely after a Monday shift it is almost always necessary.
By Asante Jones3 years ago in Journal
Impact Of Parks
June 5, 2021, marks the 13th park I have gone to or visited in Tennessee, this one, Cason Trailhead Park. All in a span of two years I have seen the great scenery of each one and I have always felt free when I am there. Well as free as you can be in this world, we live in. Free of distractions, free of stress, anxiety, problems you may have at the time. As I am sure, we all have that place or thing we like to do or go to that quells us from all things that are not of good energy and positivity, for me it is going to parks, parks that I have never been to before, or ones that I make a regular visit to maybe once or twice during the week. A walk in the park looking at nature is something so peaceful and serene, you just cannot get that anywhere nowadays. There is a certain stillness about it, Anytime I see an animal out and about it always puts a smile on my face, each one seems so free and at peace without a care in the world. If only I had that sort of freedom, to not have a care in the world about what is going on in my life or anything. If only it were that easy, nowadays its not, we all need that place of relief to go to, that one place that makes us forget just for a little bit about the day-to-day strife that takes place. Anytime I am at a park and walking for a bit I always listen to Christian music, both have the same impact and can be a calming, relieving, presence to me. Man, I think about a song just recently that I started to listen to again, heard it on my favorite radio station called K-Love, called “Love Moved First” by Casting Crowns. Walking through Cason Trailhead Park that day listening to this, while also looking at the lively still nature, it felt so good. To think about where I was emotionally a few months prior, to say I was a mess is maybe an understatement. I had gone through a lot of anxiety, stress, nervousness back then, all over a crush I had on a girl at work. Put me in a bad place emotionally, I was drained. A lot of situational events took place because of this, some ok and some not so much. Eventually I ended up asking her out for a drink, did not work out. Well, it did, just not the way I intended initially. I was told no, but it was like an enormous weight was taken away from me, the weight of anxiety, stress, and nervousness. I was free, that is not to say it did not hurt, it did. However, the good outweighed it. Fast-forward to that day on June 5, 2021, A smile came over my face as I continued to walk through the park, ever since those months passed and up until today, I have been more myself and in a good place than I could have ever been. God loved me enough to find me and pull me out of that dark pit of anxiety I was in and put me back in a state of peace and comfort, in addition to creating these beautiful parks of simplicity and elegance for me to visit in the process. He saw me through it. Now just recently thinking to myself a few days ago, I want to make it a goal of mine to visit every park in Tennessee. Not just to have something to do, but because it will give me another day to see God’s creations, the animals moving about freely and peacefully. The wind blowing on the trees, sun shining in the background, the stillness of it all will continue to have a calming impact on me and will allow me to forget just for an hour or two abut the rigors of life and just be still. As the great Christian songwriter Kari Jobe would say in her song called, “Be Still My Soul”.
By Asante Jones3 years ago in Humans