Frederick Douglass

For a man such as Frederick Douglass, Fear was never an option, how could it be when during his life anything less than strident bravery and unyielding stocism could result in the most dire curcumstances. So then, why do so many of us live in a comstant state of Fear? For, If you live in Fear you will always use Denial to justify your Fear based thoughts and actions, and in the process you will reveal yourself to be . . .

A Denial Zombie

I mean, if ever there was a man who could have been excused for living in Fear, choosing Denial over Clear Eyed Existence, it was Frederick Douglass. My God, the man only knew a life of the worst forms of degradation and dehumanization, born into slavery, he was the living example of Plato’s Cave Allegory, with the taste of Freedom, once realized, too strong to ever even entertain the notion of denial or suppression for one moment. But then, after surviving and successfully escaping slavery, Douglass found himself in the following absurdist quandary, to be held up by abolitionists as a token example to combat slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to be citizens of America. Only to be questioned, by the many “well meaning” but incredulous Northerners who questioned whether it was even possible for an ex-slave to be such a skilled, stirring and powerful orator (These were the ancestors of the Karen and Ken archetypes, trust me, I’ve done my researched . . . forced to live around many of them the first half of my life.). Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t, some elements of the Human Narrative never seem to change, but to read his words one immediately begins to grasp . . .

just how truly spoiled we all are today:

“I have often been asked, how I felt when first I found myself on free soil. And my readers may share the same curiosity. There is scarcely anything in my experience about which I could not give a more satisfactory answer. A new world had opened upon me. If life is more than breath, and the 'quick round of blood,' I lived more in one day than in a year of my slave life. It was a time of joyous excitement which words can but tamely describe. In a letter written to a friend soon after reaching New York, I said: 'I felt as one might feel upon escape from a den of hungry lions.' Anguish and grief, like darkness and rain, may be depicted; but gladness and joy, like the rainbow, defy the skill of pen or pencil.”

No Denial there, nope, none whatsoever . . .

and, so exceptionally brutal in it’s honesty, sincere and genuine, I can almost see the collective middle class and upper middle class eye rolls, were they to read Douglass’s quote on Social Media, without knowing context and mistakingly attributing it to a Self-Help Influencer page . . .

I’m telling ya, there’s a weird miasma that sets in once fully ensconced in that economic bracket, the I’ll never be a Billionaire, much less a multimillionaire, but I’ve got just enough money to create the illusion (no matter how flimsy) that I am apart and separate from the struggle. It’s the logical byproduct of the Great Homogenization Machine that is American Consumerism, which is constantly upgraded in-terms of it’s deadly operational effectiveness with the frequency of new iPhones and their Operating Systems . . . hmmmm, interesting . . .

Denial of Connectedness to the Struggle +

Denial of Economic Disparity

+

Denial of Climate Change

+

Denial of Corona Virus

+

Denial of Police Brutality/Systemic Racism

=

An Undeniably Shitty Summer

So just Don’t be a Denial Zombie.

You Don’t Benefit one bit, but I Guarantee Someone else is Benefiting from you being afflicted with Denial Zombie-ism, they probably are getting over on you in a big way, and without giving anything in return.

Be certain of one thing in Life, anyone who seeks to limit your scope of purpose, hope, love, imagination, possibility and growth, that person sucks. If that person holds sway over you in some way, and they are not encouraging and empowering you to be a better, more complete and purpose driven person, they suck even more. In fact, you may even admire that person, because they have guided and mentored you in some way, possibly influencing you dramatically . . . well, that’s great, but if they are telling you how a certain group of people are, that only one perspective is correct, or that a passion you might have is foolish, if that person is stifling your capacity for self actualization and overall human connectedness with other Humans from all walks of life, then that person is a Denial Zombie living in perpetual, Denial.

Ultimately, Ignorance and Denial are a Choice, and they are choices that limit your opportunity to live a rich, full, connected and exciting life.

Live Large, Be Bold, Love Big and Let’s ALL Work Together to Right this Ship, we’ve got quite the Journey ahead of us . . .

And how’s about we all work together to honor the Life & Legacy of a True American Hero, Frederick Douglass, who simply had no time for Fear and Denial.