Visions Of a Concrete Rose

The youth of generation Y struggle to overstand the meaning of their actions; I know this since my daily fate mingles with the universal problems for youth. I felt so bad the other evening, I felt like I wasn’t doing anything with my life. These are the days of my personal history in which I find a dilemma: I want to do so much with my life, but everything I do has a meaning I did not create.

My nights scratching away to breaks or chilling at parties with the homies I am told are not political. Self-criticism takes me away from my slumber, which is cool except I didn’t create the criteria . At the end of my night I was ready to be something instead of being harsh on myself; I wanted to disobey the critiques I used to mimic after listening to my so-called “superiors”.  

Even in that downward moment—when I couldn’t articulate the significance of my passion (since it wasn’t a job)—my creativity uplifted me. If some people do good with their backs against the walls, it results from the ability to see what a “bad situation” is hiding. Seeing what’s invisible in the nightmares of progress gives you the confidence to become much more. You find what  you strive for better in experiencing the failed state of the life that you were informed was the fantasy. If the world only sees nihilism in our future we have to call into question what the critical elders cannot see.

Only you know your full potential. That’s why people are so harsh on themselves because they expect much more than they actually do. This is where your ambition is created. How much do you really want to better yourself? To point you’re perfect? When you come across the deep feeling of disappointment or doubt  it creates a more focused approach for the future. You start taking more responsibility for a comfortable ambience. Let your faults be your lessons, where there is failure there is triumph.  Being defeated is only a temporary condition. When you give up that’s when it becomes permanent.

Building confidence from our doubt relieves the bad thoughts from consciousness. In energizing our mentality we confront the real conditions behind our insecurities. Instead of beating ourselves and getting comfortable with the lies about our power, we ultimately come to a realization of new possibilities.

For black youth to approach the future differently—without taking the reality of oppression as a deserved doom—we have to be creative in our perception of the world. Racism can make us truly feel helpless, but light penetrates our experiences toward the solution. Words of the wise folk remain: pay attention to the  lows in search of ways to elevate the situation.