No Excuses

Charlie was on his way to work. He stops at the local coffee shop where he gets his coffee every morning. Today wasn't different from any other day. On his way in he sees a black man that he had never seen before. The man then proceeds to ask Charlie for some spare change. Charlie gives the man five dollars and to his surprise the black man becomes very offended.

"Oh you must be rich huh?"

"I do all right but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Nobody ain't gonna give a bum on the street a whole five dollars."

"My gift has nothing to do with the money that I make at all."

"Yeah right. If you were broke there's no way you would've given me five whole dollars."

"Perhaps that's true. Not because I wouldn't want to but because I probably wouldn't have it."

"Just tell the truth. Why did you give me five dollars?"

"Because you said you were hungry. One dollar wouldn't get you anything to eat. I figured with five dollars you could at least get you one decent meal today."

"So you really think I'm going to get food huh?"

"That's what you said. Why would I assume otherwise?"

"Because I'm a nigga ain't I? I'm out here trying to get drug money, right?"

"You think because you're black and down on your luck that I'd assume you were a drug addict "

"Look man just take this fucking money back. I'm not going to be your fucking good white deed of the day."

"Listen whatever has you out here asking for money isn't any of my business. Just keep the five dollars and have a good day."

"See that's the problem with you white folks. You all don't really care about us. You just said what I'm going through is none of your business. You're just going to go ahead with your white privileged life and not care at all about my circumstances."

"I believe that life is not about what your circumstances make you but rather what you make of your circumstances."

"Yeah well that's easy for you to say. Try walking in my shoes!"

Charlie then takes off his shoes and gives them to the black man.

"Now you give me yours and I'll walk in them."

So the black man gives Charlie his shoes and walks away.

All of a sudden Charlie is in a bed sleep. He's awakened by the screaming of a woman.

"Charlie you better get your ass up and get ready for school!"

Charlie was confused. Who was that woman yelling at him? He looks around the room and immediately notices that it's not his room. It's a children's room. Then he's startled by the little girl in the top bunk that looks down at him and yells "time to get up!"

Charlie jumps out of the bed and runs straight into the bathroom. He looks in the mirror and discovers that somehow he's changed from a thirty-year-old white man into a ten-year-old black boy. The last thing that he remembered was switching shoes with the black man at the coffee shop. So, he determined that he hadn't gotten out of bed yet for work. That the black man at the coffee shop and everything that has happened afterwards was all part of a dream. He believed that once his alarm went off that he would wake up and everything will be back to normal. So, in the meantime he was going to just make the best of the dream.

In just the first few minutes of the dream that seemed like hours to him he realized quite a few differences. Just the home in itself was a huge difference. There was only three bedrooms. There was only one bathroom. The basement wasn't usable and there was only one television with no cable.

The family dynamic was different as well. There was four people living there. There was the mother, the older brother, his younger sister and him. There was no father in the home. Apparently, he was a man that was spending most of his time in and out of prison. The mother apparently wasn't in the home too often either. She had to leave for her first job early in the morning and didn't get home from her second job till almost 9pm.

The neighborhood was different too. The houses were right next to each other. There wasn't any lawns or driveways. The streets were crowded. There were a lot of people outside just walking the streets for various reasons. He was starting to get a little scared.

School was different as well. There was what seemed like a million kids there. He had about thirty kids in his class alone. The kids were different too. They were much more aggressive. They were insulting and argumentative. They handled every altercation with violence.

There was also something about the teachers as well. They didn't seem to care. It didn't even seem like they were teaching. It seemed like they were just up there reading a script. They also weren't teaching a good curriculum at all. He was supposedly in the fifth grade. Yet he felt like he was learning kindergarten things.

After a while Charlie had become extremely confused. Why hadn't he awakened yet? He started to believe that he wasn't asleep. That he wasn't in a dream. That somehow, he'd been sent back in time to live his life out as a black man. So, at that point Charlie made a decision. He knew what he wanted to be in life, and he was going to be that no matter what. He wasn't going to let anything derail him. He was truly going to live by his model. He wasn't going to let his circumstances make him. He was going to make the best of his circumstances.

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Willy took Charlie's shoes only because he had thought that they were better than his. He didn't know what was going to happen once he put them on. Willy then woke up to an alarm on a cell phone. He wasn't begging for change in front of the coffee shop. He was in a bed in a child's room. He then went into the bathroom and upon looking in the mirror discovered that he was no longer a thirty-year-old black man. He was instead a ten-year-old white boy. He had thought that maybe he was dreaming. So, he just decided to go with the flow.

He started to notice the differences right away. As he walked down the hallway to return to his room, he noticed a little girl coming from another room with a towel on. He was astonished by the fact that the home had more than one bathroom. He was also shocked to see that the little girl also had a bedroom of her own. He then went downstairs and realized that the family dynamic was also different.

There was breakfast on the table and a mother who was still in her house robe. She didn't have to get ready for work. She didn't have a job. She was a stay-at-home mother. Something Willy definitely wasn't used to. He also wasn't used to having a father in the home. It was the dad that was there getting ready for work.

As he went outside to go to school, he noticed that the neighborhood was different. It was quiet. There were no people outside besides children going to school. There were houses with driveways that weren't next to each other. He was even shocked to discover that he didn't have to walk to school. The dad was dropping them off on his way to work.

School was different too. There were only twelve kids in his class and two teachers. He was having a little bit of trouble with the work and the teacher came to his desk to help him and only him. She seemed as if she really cared about him. He felt like she really wanted him to learn.

After a while Willy came to the realization that he wasn't dreaming. That somehow, when he switched shoes with Charlie that they had switched lives. That now he was going to get to grow up as a white man.

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Charlie wasn't enjoying his time as a young black man. First of all, he missed not having a father in the home. Things that he usually went to his father for now became things that he had to handle on his own. His relationship with his siblings was difficult as well. In his old life they were out of the house. They had gone on trips and vacations. They had slumber parties and friends. In this new life his sister and brother were always with him. The three of them trapped in that house together like a prison.

He wasn't enjoying school either. He wasn't learning anything. He wasn't getting to where he wanted to be with his education. He wasn't being taught or pushed. He wasn't being motivated at all. He was going to continue pushing though. He was going to reach his goal.

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Willy was living the life. He loved it at home. He loved having a mother around all the time. Having his clothes cleaned and pressed. Having a home cooked breakfast. He also loved having a father there as well. He loved being able to talk to a man about personal issues that he was having with life. He was also having a great time with his sister. They were going swimming and to amusement parks. They had parties and friends over all of the time. He was really having fun.

He was even having a good time at school. He was actually learning new things. He had been in a science fair that had more than volcanoes. He felt smarter than he had ever been. He was even enjoying the variety of different food choices for lunch. His grades had drastically improved.

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As the years went on, things became even more difficult for Charlie. The pressures of life had begun to affect his home. His older brother had become part of the street life. He had started to use and sell drugs. He had even tried to recruit Charlie. Charlie had to stay strong, though he was enticed a little bit. He did like the new clothes and things that his brother was bringing home. He also liked the fact that there was now a new television and video game system in the house. His brother also had new friends. Friends that he wanted. Charlie was close to joining his brother. He had thought about it on more than one occasion. His brother was helping their mother. He was buying groceries and things for the house. Their mom was able to quit her night job and be home more. Maybe if he sold drugs too then they would be able to move to a better place. All of those thoughts were on his mind. Ultimately, he decided to stay the course. He had bigger fish to fry.

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As those same years went by things for Willy couldn't have been better. He was living the life. Fun outings with his friends. A daily allowance from his parents kept money in his pocket. He was on easy street. That's when he was first introduced to drugs. Some of his friends had started doing cocaine and he thought that it was cool, so he started doing it as well. It didn't matter to him. He was white. What was the worst that could happen?

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Charlie had found himself a girlfriend. She was a moderate looking girl that no one paid attention to. She was quiet and smart. She was just the type of girl that he needed. A girl that also had dreams and aspirations. Dreams that she wasn't going to allow to be derailed by her circumstances. She was a good girl. She was everything that he wanted.

They had been dating for a few months and there were certain sexual desires that arose. So, they talked about it. They had both come up with the decision to wait. They both realized that having a baby wouldn't be good for either of them at the time. They knew that there were ways to protect themselves from pregnancy, but that sex wasn't worth the risk. They decided to wait.

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Willy was the man in school. He was so cool and very popular with the ladies. He kept three and four girlfriends at a time. He thought that it was cool to drink and do drugs with them. He also thought that it was cool to have sex. He didn't even think about protecting himself. He wasn't concerned with diseases or teenage pregnancy. As a result of his recklessness, he became a father at the age of sixteen.

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A few more years had gone by. Charlie was about to graduate from college. He ended up being top of his class. He already has a job waiting for him at a top engineering firm in the city. He has made his whole family proud. He's the first in the family to graduate from college.

He was also still with his high school sweetheart. She like him was about to graduate as well. They were in love and were planning a wedding for next year.

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Willy's parents weren't proud of him at all. Matter of fact they were very disappointed. He never graduated from high school. He had a baby at sixteen and another at eighteen with two girls he wanted nothing to do with. He's lost job after job. He was living in their basement and getting high on drugs. They were thinking about trying to get him into rehab.

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Charlie is now thirty years old. He's a top executive at the engineering firm and earns a very generous salary. He and his high school sweetheart have been married for over six years. They now have two children Monica 5 and Jennifer 2. They live in a nice house in the suburbs.

Charlie looked into the mirror that morning proud. He was successful. He was a good engineer, a good husband and a good father. He had done everything that he was supposed to do. He had done it all despite his circumstances.

He was a black man growing up in an inner city. He was in a single parent household without a lot of money. He had a brother that fell victim to the streets. He walked the streets that were filled with crime. He walked past the drug addicts and the dealers. He avoided all of the robberies and murders. He ignored all of the pressures of drugs and sex. He did it despite being harassed by the police. Despite being looked over at work at times.

He did it! It wasn't what his circumstances made him but what he made of his circumstances. He finishes getting ready for work. He kisses his wife and children goodbye and leaves the house. He pulls his car over gets out and starts to walk into the coffee shop and .......

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Willy was now thirty years old. He's an on again off again drug addict who is sometimes allowed to sleep at his parents' house. He hasn't been able to keep a job. He hasn't seen his fourteen-year-old son and twelve-year-old daughter in years.

He goes into the bathroom at the train station and looks into the mirror. He was disgusted. He didn't do anything with his life. The least he could have done was take care of his kids. He was a drug addict and a criminal. He didn't do anything right with his life despite his circumstances.

He was a young white man growing up in the suburbs. He lived in a nice home with both parents. He grew up in a household with decent money. There wasn't much crime or violence in his town. He had succumbed to the pressures of drugs and sex. He had become a teenage father and a drug addict. He failed despite being given everything that he needed to be successful. He failed after living in a good environment and being given a good education.

He did it too. His life also wasn't what his circumstances made him but what he made of his circumstances. He finished up in the bathroom grabbed his cup and headed over to the coffee shop to beg for change and........

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Charlie walks up and Willy asks him if he had any change to spare. He says that he was trying to get something to eat. Charlie reaches into his pocket and gives Willy five dollars. That's when they realize who they were. Charlie pulls Willy so the side of the building to talk to him.

That's when Jasmine walks up. She informs the men that she was the one that had cast the spell. That she was out there and had heard their conversation and cast a spell on them to switch their lives. They had thought that she was there to change them back. That they were to have learned some kind of lesson and now were going back to their regular childhood. Jasmine did have to ability to reverse the spell and that was what she had come to do at first. But she was curious, she wanted to talk to them first. She wanted to find out if they had learned the lesson. At least that was what they thought. Jasmine simply asked Charlie if he wanted to reverse the curse.

She asked Charlie because he was the one that was successful. He was the one that was going to give her the honest answer. Of course, Willy was going to want to reverse the curse. That would have been his only chance at a good life. Charlie on the other hand didn't really have any reason to reverse the curse. Jasmine was sure that she would get an honest answer out of him.

Charlie had thought long and hard about the question. Did he want to go back to ten and live a third life? What about his wife? He wasn't sure that he was going to meet her again. Would his children be different? What about his job, his home, his family and friends, would they all be different as well?

Then Charlie realized that none of the things he was thinking about even mattered. He realized that he wasn't going to be sent back to ten years old. He wasn't going to lose his wife, kids, or friends. His job, his home, every thing that he had was going to be the same. It was going to be the same for Willy as well. Charlie felt like there wouldn't be any change in his life either. He knew that switching again would only change one thing and that would be the color of his skin.

Charlie had to decide whether he wanted to be white or black. So he carefully weighed the pros and cons between the two and for him there wasn't much difference. He was already successful. He already lived in a good environment to raise his children. He was already giving his children the tools they needed for success. There wasn't any advantage to him being white at this point in his life.

So, in order to make his decision he looked at the journey. He made it right back to the same place as white man and as a black man but the journey was definitely different.

After careful consideration Charlie chose to stay black. When Jasmine asked him why he told her three things. First he told her that he and others appreciated the journey more when he was black. That he had to fight for equality in the workplace. That he had to fight for education. That he had to survive the violence. He had to resist the urges of drugs and sex. All without the guidance of a father or the proper care of a mother.

Other people admired him for his success in spite of the adversity he had to face. When he was white people acted like his success was given to him. He was proud to be a successful black man. He also mentioned how he was going to take much pride in raising successful black women as well.

Then there was Willy. He admitted that he thought about giving Willy one more chance but changed his mind. He said he knew that no matter black or white. Privileged or not Willy was going to be Willy and he was going to end up right back here. The difference was that once again he would be another black statistic instead of a sad white man.

That was really the final reason that Charlie decided to stay black. He wanted to be that role model. He wanted to show the world that a black man from the hood can be successful without a ball, without hip-hop, with hard work and dedication. If he switched back he'd be a white man no one cared about. As a black man he made a difference.

Willy tried to plead his case. He said that he hadn't experienced any privilege as a white man. That having a father made no difference. That he still became an addict and had kids at a young age. That he dealt with the same things Charlie had to deal with. That at least he could be black again like he was supposed to be.

Charlie then explained to Willy that it wasn't about being black or white. That it was about being Willy and Willy was a failure. Charlie then explained to him that the privilege wasn't that he had the resources. The privilege was the choice. Had he made the choice to be successful his road would've been easy. Charlie had to go down the hard road no matter what. He had no choice. So at the end of the day Charlie took more pride in being a successful black man than a successful white one. He kindly told Jasmine and Willy to have a nice day.