Stone

Two friends were walking through the desert
During some point of the journey, they had an argument;
And one friend slapped the other one in the face 

The one who got slapped was hurt, but
Without saying anything, wrote in the sand
Today my best friend slapped me in the face

They kept on walking until they found an oasis
Where they decided to take a bath
The one who got slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning

But the friend saved him
After he recovered from the near drowning,
He wrote on a stone: "Today my best friend saved my life"

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him
"After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now,
You write on a stone. Why?" 

The friend replied "When someone hurts us
We should write it down in sand, where
The winds of forgiveness can erase it away

But, when someone does something good for us,
We must engrave it in stone
Where no wind can ever erase it."

Learn to write your hurts in sand
And to carve your benefits in stone

They say it takes a minute to find a special person,
An hour to appreciate them,
A day to love them,
But then an entire life to forget them

Take the time to LIVE!

Do not value the things you have in Life,
But value who you have in your Life!

Friend For Life,
James Short

--
God, give us faith to trust your good intent for your world and courage to act to make those intentions a reality.

I bet you didn't know that... (at least not all of the 
'facts' below) 

Alaska 
More than half of the coastline of the entire United 
States is in Alaska. 
 
Amazon 
The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% the 
world's oxygen supply. The Amazon River pushes so much 
water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one  
hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, 
one can dip fresh water out of the ocean. 
The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater  
than the next eight larg est rivers in the 
world combined and three times the flow of all rivers 
in the United States. 
 
Antarctica 
Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not 
owned by any country. Ninety percent of the world's 
ice covers Antarctica. This ice also represents  
seventy percent of all the fresh water in the world. 
As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is 
essentially a desert. The average yearly total 
precipitation is about two inches. Although 
covered with ice (all but 0.4 % of it, i.e.),  Antarctica 
is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute
humidity lower than the Gobi desert. 
 
Brazil 
Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way 
around. 
 
Canada 
Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world 
combined. Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big 
Village." 
 
Chicago 
Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish 
population in the world. 
 
Detroit 
Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the 
designation M-1, named so because it was the f irst 
paved road anywhere. 
 
Damascus, Syria 
Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand 
years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the 
oldest continuously inhabited city in existence. 
 
Istanbul, Turkey 
Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world 
located on two continents. 
 
Los Angeles 
Los Angeles's full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra 
Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula --and 
can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A. 
 
New York City 
The term "The Big Apple" was coined by touring jazz 
musicians of the 1930's who used the slang expression 
"apple" for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York
City is to play the big time - The Big Apple.  There are more
Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in
New York City  than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New
York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel.
 
Ohio 
There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, every 
one is manmade. 
 
Pitcairn Island 
The smallest islan d with country status is Pitcairn 
in Polynesia, at just 1.75 sq. miles/4,53 sq. km. 
 
Rome 
The first city to reach a population of 1 million 
people was Rome, Italy in 133 B.C. There is a city 
called Rome on every continent. 
 
Siberia 
Siberia contains more than 25% of the world's forests. 
 
S.M.O.M. 
The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is 
the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M.). It 
is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area 
of two tennis courts, and as of 2001 has 
a population ;of 80, 20 less people than the 
Vatican. It is a sovereign entity under 
international law, just as the Vatican is. 
 
Sahara Desert 
In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, 
which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years. 
Technically though, the driest place onEarth is in the  
valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island. There has 
been no rainfall there for two million years. 
 
Spain 
Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits.' 
 
St. Paul, Minnesota 
St. Paul , Minnesota, was originally called Pig's Eye 
after a man named Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant who set 
up the first business there. 
 
Roads 
Chances that a road is unpaved in the U.S.A.: 1%, in 
Canada: 75% 
 
Texas 
The deepest hole ever made in the world is in Texas. 
It is as deep as 20 empire state buildings but only 3 
inches wide. 
 
United States 
The Eisenhower interstate system requires that 
one-mile in every five must be straight. These 
straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of 
war or other emergencies. 
 
Waterfalls 
The water of Angel Falls (the World's highest) in 
Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters). They are 15 
times higher than Niagara Falls. 
 
So, didn't it feel good to learn something new 
today??? 
 
I have always said you should learn something new 
every day. Unfortunately, most of us are at that age 
where what we learn today, we forget tomorrow. 
 
But, give it a shot anyway! ... 

The Black Eagle And The Chicken

Once there was this chicken farmer who had a barnyard of white leghorn chickens. Hard times befell the farmer, and the chicken business wasn't doing too well. A friend of the farmer came to him one day and said, "I have an idea how you can make yourself some extra money."

Of course, the farmer was all ears. The friend went on and said, "Up there in the mountains I spied a black eagle last week. Now, if you set a trap for her and capture her, you can bring her down, show her off, and charge admission to see her."

The farmer thought that was a good idea. So he built a big trap, went up in the mountain, and finally caught the black eagle. He brought her down and tried to transfer her from the trap to a big viewing cage he had built. But the black eagle was too used to freedom, so she bit him, she clawed him, she fought him every time he tried to get near the trap. The farmer became so angry he got his gun and killed the poor black eagle who only wanted her freedom.

The friend came again, saw what had happened, and said, "Look, brother farmer. I believe that black eagle laid a couple of eggs. Go get those eggs of hers, bring them down, and put them under one of your setting hens. Then, when the eggs hatch, those little eaglets won't know who they are. They will think they are chickens, so they won't fight back and bite you. They won't claw you. They will be peaceful and calm because they won't know who they are. Then you can show them off in that big viewing cage, charge admission to see them, and make yourself a whole lot of money."

The farmer got the eagle eggs and put them under one of his setting hens. In time, one of the eggs hatched, and a little eaglet came out. He didn't know who he was. He thought he was a chicken. The farmer was happy. When he went near the little eaglet, the eaglet got frightened and ran away as fast as his little legs would carry him. The farmer called him "Tom".

Tom ran around with the chickens and was very happy until one day he saw himself in the stream of water that ran through the barnyard. He saw he was not white like the chickens. He saw the feathers on his head did not lie down slick like the feathers on chickens' heads. He became so ashamed of his color and his head feathers. He took some cream and rubbed it over his feathers to lighten them up. Then he put some on his head feathers to make them lie down. Now Tom felt happy that he was beginning to look more like a chicken.

By and by the other egg hatched. Now this eaglet broke bad when he came on the set. Somehow he got the nerve to stand his ground when the farmer stamped his foot. The farmer called him Turk. The other eagle, Tom, began coming over to give advice to Turk. "Here's some cream to put on those feathers so you can lighten them like mine and the rest of our brother chickens. Then do something about that head. Do something."

When Turk refused and shied away, Tom whipped out a silk cloth. "Well, at least put this silk rag on your head to do something to those feathers up there."

But Turk said, "I kinda like my color and my head feathers the way they are, thank you."

Tom turned away in disgust, and happily joined the other chickens in play, leaving poor Turk all by himself.

The only joy for poor, little, lonely Turk was in looking up at the sky for long periods of time, because somehow he felt that was where he belonged.

One morning while he was looking up in the sky, a speck appeared. The speck got larger and larger until it became the largest bird he had ever seen. You and I know it must have been a Black Eagle. Well, the black eagle saw little Turk on the ground and came in on a branch overhanging the barnyard. The eagle looked down at Turk and said with a deep an strong voice, "What are you doing down there with those chickens?"


"Why, I am a chicken," replied Turk.

The old black eagle laughed, and said "You're no chicken."

"Then what am I?" asked Turk.

"You're Black Eagle."

"An eagle?" asked Turk. "What's an eagle?"

"An eagle," bellowed the old eagle, "is the ruler of the skies. Spread your wings and come up here on the branch so I can tell you who you are."

But poor little Turk, with tears in his eyes, said "I can't. You know chickens can't fly that high."

The old eagle became very angry at Turk. "I told you that you are not a chicken. You're an eagle. Now spread those wings."

Turk spread his wings out, as far as he could spread them.

"Now flap them," said the old eagle.

Turk began flapping them, faster and faster, and to his surprise he rose higher and higher - higher than he had ever risen in his life - and came in on the branch beside the old eagle.

"Now settle down," said the old eagle, "and I will tell you who you are. I will tell you your history. Your father, as a black eagles are, was king of the skies. No bird was as strong. No bird could fly as high or as far as your father without rest. And your mother, as queen of the skies, ruled the skies alongside your father. And you are their son."
"But, but, but what about my color?" asked Turk. "You see, the chickens are white, and I am black."

"Don't you know what that color represents?" asked the old eagle, "It represents royalty."

"That's heavy," cried Turk. "But what about the way the feathers are on my head?"

"That's your crown. I told you, you are a king."

"That's deep," said the young eagle. "Let's tell Tom." Spying Tom on the ground with the chickens, Turk called down, "Tom, Tom! This eagle up here is telling us about our history. It's so beautiful." But Tom shouted back, "I don't want to learn anything about our history, I'm too busy getting these crumbs off the ground. Anyway, you better come down out of that tree before you get us all in trouble."

The old eagle shook his head sadly. "Come, let us fly away to our destiny."

They took off. Pretty soon they flew over a deep valley. The young eagle was frightened. "We'll fall."

But the old eagle smiled and said, "Don't be afraid. You won't fall. This is the Valley of Oppression. You will fly safely over the valley because you have the strength of kings in your wings. Fly on!" And they flew safely over the valley.

They came to a big desert. Again, the young eagle was afraid. "I don't see any trees on which to rest." But the old eagle said, "This is the Desert of Mediocrity - the Desert of Don't Care - the Desert of Only a C Average. But you don't need to rest. You will fly safely over the desert because you have the strength of queens in your wings. Fly on!" And they flew safely over the Desert of Mediocrity.

But straight in front of them loomed a high mountain. Young Turk then asked, "Will we crash into the mountain?"

The old eagle smiled. "No we won't crash. This is the Mountain of Injustice that we will fly safely over because we have the strength of the ancestors in our wings. Fly on!"

And both Black Eagles, young and old, flew over the mountain.

Fly on Black Eagle, Fly on!

Author unknown,

ON ECONOMIC VIOLENCE 

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Have you ever received money from a Chinese person for anything other 
than them making change for you? No, is the answer I have been receiving 
when asking this question as part of an informal survey to Black People. 
The follow up question is, "Have you ever given money to a Chinese person?" 
The answer invariably is yes. This imbalance of give and take is reflective 
of the consciousness of Black people and consequently our relationship with 
ourselves and others. 

There is a reason why every Black Ghetto has a Chinese food restaurant, but 
there are no Soul Food restaurants in Chinatown. In fact, the most popular 
Soul Food restaurant in Harlem, New York on 135th Street and Malcolm X 
Boulevard is owned and operated by a Chinese family. 

Again, there are no Soul Food restaurants in Chinatown and there certainly 
is no Chinese Food restaurant in China town owned and operated by a 
Black family. If a Black person tried, the business would be shut down, 
before it started. Why? Economic Violence. 

Every group of people understands practices and strategically utilizes the 
concept of economic violence, except Black people. In fact the economic 
violence that we, as Black people, practice is economic violence against 
ourselves. Economic violence is the art and science of using the exchange 
of money for goods and/or services as an aspect of ethnic warfare, survival 
and prosperity. 

The Chinese will not support a Black business over their own, because they 
are not interested in ethnic suicide. The Chinese are logical, as self 
preservation is the most basic of human instincts. So not only will a 
Chinese person not support a Black business over a Chinese business, they 
take it one step further and plant their business in a Black community and 
implement plans to take Black people's money. This ideological posture is 
pure and scientific economic violence. Replace Chinese with any other 
ethnic group besides Black, and the picture becomes clearer. 
The above is not a condemnation of Chinese, Korean, Arab or white businesses 
at all. It is a condemnation of Black people who have forgotten The Honorable 
Marcus Garvey's mantra of "Race First." Every ethnic group has mastered 
this concept except Black people. It is in my interest to come from a powerful 
people. Therefore, my interest is committing economic violence on behalf of 
Black people. That means purchasing a Black person's service or product 
"first" before I purchase any other ethnic group or race's service or product. 

Have you committed economic violence on your behalf or against yourself today? 
If you are a Black person reading this, I am sure that you are familiar with the 
notion of, "I just want the best product or service for my money and a lot of 
times,  Black folks just aren't up to par." 

My response is, 
1) If that's your attitudinal posture, then do not get mad if 
people don't patronize your Black business (product or service) for fear of 
deficiencies. 
2) Since when has the uncleanliness of a Chinese food restaurant stopped you 
from buying a to-go order of shrimp fried rice, or the messiness of an Arab or 
Indian corner-store, gas station or bodega stopped you from purchasing those 
pork rinds you love and a soft drink. Have you committed economic violence
on your behalf or against yourself today? 

Black people: Due to our lack of economic militarism, we are losing the fight 
for economic independence. That's why everyone, and I mean everyone, "bangs" 
on Black people. All ethnic groups gain their financial strength in America by 
economically banging on Black people. This is how white people became 
wealthy in this world. 

The European transatlantic slave trade of kidnapping millions of Africans as 
Prisoners of War was the biggest gang bang of all time. Chattel and plantation 
slavery was a continuation of this policy of economic violence. Since then, we 
have been left open to economic attack by every ethnic group that makes it to 
America. Nothing has really changed, because the relationship between slave
and slave-master is still the same. *Tastes, Interests and Values: Stop Eating 
Pizza,*You're not Italian The first step in perpetuating economic violence 
against a people is to change their tastes, interests and values to the tastes, 
interests and values of the invading culture. Tastes, interests and values are 
the sole determinative factors in the decision to purchase a service or product.

This is extremely important as all products and services spring from a cultural 
landscape. Here are some extremely basic examples to illustrate my point: 

(1) An overwhelming amount of people in America, purchase turkey on the third 
week of November, every single year. The turkey is an imperative for a Thanks-
giving dinner. Thanksgiving is a white cultural holiday designed to celebrate 
white conquest and genocide of the native American population, but is masked
as a day of family togetherness and thanks. The people who own turkey farms 
are white poultry farmers. They are the direct economic beneficiaries of the 
values of this particular cultural holiday. If native American and Black people 
were the owners of turkey farms, you can bet your last dollar that turkey would 
not be a requirement of that holiday. White people understand economic 
violence and under no circumstance would they allow anyone other than 
whites to benefit from a white holiday. 

(2) This is the same reason why U.S. federal, state and municipal government 
cars must be American cars.They understand economic violence. Have you 
committed economic violence on your behalf or against yourself today? 

(3) Selling beef to Hindus won't work. The Hindu religion absolutely forbids the 
killing of cows as the cow is sacred to them. Therefore selling beef products 
to this crowd is not economically feasible. However, if you are able to convert 
the Hindus away from their religion into say, Christianity, you would have not 
just brought a new group of people to the priest or the pastor on Sunday, but 
a new group of people to McDonald's and Burger King, because their tastes, 
interests and values concerning cows would have changed. 

A further examination of tastes, interests and values reveal that once you adopt 
or are coerced into perpetuating the tastes, interests and values of another 
group of people you will not only be committing economic violence against 
yourself but you will be committing violence against your health. 

*Example 1: In Hawaii*, over 50 percent of native adults 40 years old or more 
were diagnosed with diabetes. The Hawaiians are a Polynesian people who have 
for centuries flourished on a local diet of vegetables and fruits from their 
land. After the U.S. invasion and displacement of the Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani,
the tastes, values and interests of native Hawaiians were changed to the tastes
of white people. Hawaiians began eating Hamburgers, Pizza, etc. and became
zombies of American fast foodism and forgot about their traditional foods. 
Something interesting happened: Disease in the form of Diabetes. Diabetes was 
never a problem for Hawaiians until their tastes we re changed. In effect, 

Hawaiians were funding their Diabetes. A Hawaiian doctor trained in western 
medicine and traditional healing sciences went on a crusade to save her people 
from Diabetes. She did not prescribe insulin-controlled by white pharmaceutical 
companies, which is a band-aid to the real problem, but she prescribed a 
traditional Hawaiian diet and forbade her patients to eat European made food. As her 
patients ate green leaves, fruits and root food vegetables from the place where they 
evolved, their diabetes was wiped out completely. Additionally, in this manner, Hawaiian
farmers benefit from the purchase of food grown on their own land, thereby 
restoring economic and physical health-simultaneously. 

*Example 2: I was at a supermarket in Miami,*Florida buying a yam. Not a sweet 
potato, but a real yam, brown and hard. The cashier was Black and said, "What's 
that, a turnip?" I was startled and had a serious epiphany. Black people have 
been so oppressed in America, that we do not even recognize our own ancestral 
foods. The implications again are self inflicted economic and physical violence 
(dis-ease). 

* A major disease that affects Black Americans is Sickle Cell Anemia*. 

However, this disease does not affect Black people in Africa nearly as much. 
The reason: The shifting of tastes, interests, and values much like the Hawaiian 
example. The sickle cell trait is a trait that helps Africans fight off malaria. 
The sickling of the red blood cell helps prevent the malaria parasite from binding 
to the cell due to the peculiar shape of a sickled cell and its hemoglobin. Since 
Black Americans are literally from West Africa, they have this trait just like 
any other West African. The difference is the West African diet contains root foods 
from the Africans soil like cassava and yam. Studies by Nigerian researcher, 
Dr. Ogi Agbaihave, shown that thiocyanate in cassava and yam and their leaves 
alleviate the symptoms of Sickle Cell Anemia. Black Americans do not eat 
cassava or true yams, so Sickle Cell Anemia is rampant. Instead, Black 

Americans have been forced to develop a taste for everything, other than 
African root food, therefore the disease is present. Disease is defined as 
imbalance. When a person or a people have tastes, interests and values 
outside of who they really are, all types of imbalances occur such as 
economic and physical health imbalances. Recalibrating a Black American 
diet from chitlins and fried chicken back to a West African diet of plantains, 
cassava, yams, etc., will create a necessary economic balance by supporting 
African commodities markets and enriching personal, group economic and 
physical health simultaneously. Have you committed economic violence today? 

**The Opium Wars: There is Nothing You Have That We Want** China** In 
studying economic violence, tastes interests and values, a cursory discussion 
on the Opium Wars is extremely important. 

Please note that major wars occur due to the addictions of Europeans.Today, 
there is a war in Iraq, due to the European addiction to oil. In the 19th 
century, the Opium wars between Britain and China were due to the British addiction to 
tea. The Chinese have an ancient tradition of drinking tea as part of their 
daily ritual. The British developed this custom due to the travels of many European
"explorers" who successfully made it over to Asia. By the 19th century, tea 
became a staple of the British, particularly the middle class and ruling class. 
The British imported all of their tea from China. In a short amount of time, 
there was a huge trade imbalance between Britain and China in favor of China. The 
British paid China for their tea with gold. Soon, the British became nervous as 
their gold reserves were being depleted. However, the British population's taste 
for tea was insatiable and there would have been riots if the British population 
was deprived of their tea. In response to the economic violence that Britain 
was suffering at the hands of China, British leaders arranged a meeting with 
Chinese leaders. 

The British wanted to stop trading tea for gold. They told the Chinese that they 
would trade anything else that Britain produced for the Chinese tea. 

The Chinese response was laughter as the Chinese retorted, There is nothing 
that you have that we want." The British were stunned as they took this as an 
offense to their way of life and their plans to keep their gold. 

The British went back to Britain and decided to pump opium into China.The opium 
was to be traded for gold in China, and thereby getting the gold back into 
British hands. In addition, the British took lands from the Indian subcontinent for two 
purposes: 

1) for growing the poppy plant for opium to facilitate their drug trade and 
2) for growing various other plants for tea so that trading tea with China would be
obsolete. In fact, today one of the most famous tea names is Ceylon tea. Ceylon is 
the former British colonial name for the country in the Indian sub-continent 
now named Sri Lanka. 

One day, in 1839, the Chinese seized a ship off of its shores containing tons 
of opium. The Chinese rightfully seized the ship as opium was illegal in China
and anyone caught with opium was given the death penalty. The British 
declared the Chinese seizure of their ship as an act of war, and hence the 
initiation of the Opium wars which were from 1839-1842 and 1856-1860 
between Britain and China. 

The Chinese have never forgotten the economic war with Europeans and 
the implications are felt today. Consequently, the Chinese have nuclear 
weapons, the largest standing army in the world and Europe and America 
as debtors in trade. Their major strength has been maintaining their own tastes, 
interests and values and the ability to look at Europeans in the face and say, 
"There is nothing that you have that we want." Black people, can we say 
the same? The reason why we have been in trouble as a race for so long
is our unrelenting taste for things European. 

Remember, African prisoners of war (slaves) were traded for white commod-
ities like European processed rum, spare parts and European textiles. Have 
you committed economic violence today? 

**Slavery and the Value of Labor: Adam Smith* *Adam Smith was an economic 
philosopher from England and considered the patron saint of European Capitalist 
thought. He was also an opponent of the enslavement of Africans in America 
and Europe. However, he was not opposed to our enslavement for moral or 
noble reasons. He was opposed to slavery because he thought it was
inefficient in the capitalist world. He believed Africans should be paid for 
our labor so that we could buy European goods. That was his sole 
argument. He didn't like the idea that such a large population could not 
be consumers because slaves were not allowed the ability to earn money.
What does this mean? It means that the only reason why it was acceptable 
for you and I to not be enslaved is so that we could feed the economic 
system of white supremacy better and more efficiently. And what are Black
people now? The biggest one-dimensional pure consumers the world has 
ever seen. 

The slavery relationship is still the same. If you work a job that pays you 
ten dollars per hour and you pay $150.00 to Tommy Hilfiger for his jeans, 
you have effectively given 15 hours of your labor to Tommy Hilfiger. 
You worked 15 hours for him. When are you going to work for yourself 
and your people, by purchasing Black goods and services with your 
labor hours? Tommy Hilfiger and company doesn't even have to whip 
us anymore to turn over our labor to him. He is still economically 
violent, and we are still bleeding. 

Lesson: In your economic life, if you are not buying from your own 
people first, then you are committing suicide on many levels and 
enlisting for slavery and zombification. Buy Black with no apology 
and if you have to buy from others, try to make sure it's a bootleg. 
*Never pay full price for anything from others-especially those who 
have historically and continue to benefit from your underdevelopment.
For in fact, our relationship is dialectical to our oppressors. 

Their development is dependent on our underdevelopment.* Have
you committed economic violence /self-hate today?