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  • Politics Is Like Hiring A Hitman
    by Scott Woods inPolitical on2020-08-13

    For me, politics is like hiring a hitman. I have values and things I care about. I care enough about them to at least bother voting for 5 minutes every year for one issue or another. And because I care at least that much, I vote for people who align with the ability to realize the things I care about.

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  • Punching Above Our Weight
    by Roger Madison Jr. inPolitical on2020-07-24

    I believe our vote is the punctuation of our voice. Without that resounding exclamation mark, I believe our voices are just incoherent noise.

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  • BLACK PROGRESS AMIDST SOCIAL CHAOS
    by Roger Madison Jr. inPolitical on2020-06-16

    Recent events have raised the profile of historical injustice and inequities here in the USA. The entire world has taken note of the fact that BLACK LIVES MATTER.   We invite all of our friends to engage in actions that result in the greatest movement for change in our history. It is imperative that we take advantage of this opportunity to affect a positive change by ACTING IN OUR SELF-INTERESTS.

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  • Living in a Black No-Man's Land
    by Roger Madison Jr. inOur Community on2019-10-28

    There are many narratives that define the Black experience in America in this 2nd decade of the 21st century. Our striving over the centuries of our sojourn in this nation is a tapestry of every human experience -- oppression, enslavement, forced assimilation, dehumanization, exclusion, segregation, isolation, struggle, perseverance, achievement, excellence, celebration, mourning, despair, progress, setbacks, lynching, assassination, genocide, terror, self-hatred, low esteem, pride,...

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  • Fighting Racism
    by Scott Woods inOur Community on2018-10-25

    I had a boss who was racist. Not an outright bigot, of course; her toolbox was more subtle than most. We bumped heads a lot over inconsequential things. She frequently couldn’t keep my name out her mouth. Lot of gaslighting. You know…2018 style. I tried a lot of ways to combat or navigate her issues. None of them worked, and that’s saying a lot because I’m really good at fighting racism. But at the end of the day – every day – she was my boss, I had to deal with her, and that was that. Finally I...

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Why We Need Self-Help Books

When I was a little girl in the 70s and 80s my parents preached to me the gospel of getting a good education to the point where it was a no-brainer as to what I would do when I got out of high school. I would go to college.

I thought lectures about staying away from boys, not having children and focusing on education and work were happening in every home in America. However as an adult, I've met lots of people-those who went to college and those who did not-who said their parents didn't offer them any advice regarding their future.  They found their own way.

While I had the education thing down pat, honestly that is the only life skills training my parents were able to provide.  In terms of spirituality, personal development, career planning, money management, cultural enrichment etc my parents could not guide me in any of these areas as they weren't well versed in them themselves.  Even with the education piece, they couldn't offer any specific instructions.  They ordered me to do well in school. I then figured out how to do it and performed.

I'm not knocking the parents of yesteryear who did not have access to the information that we have today regarding child rearing and development.  Still we've got to acknowledge that many of us did not get as children what we needed to develop into our greatest selves.  This is why self-help is so critical.

What our parents and caregivers were unable to give, we must give ourselves.  If you know you have an anger problem because there was a lot of disharmony in your household growing up, get self-help books on the subject. Read them, absorb the information and apply what you learn.  If you're raising your children in the manner in which you were raised even though you didn't agree with the approach, find books that outline other methods. Read, absorb, apply.

I notice a lot of self-help books focus on the "failures" of parents, but in the words of Queen Afua "they gave us what they had." Also we know now the ancient truth that it takes a village to raise one child.  So it's not fair to hold one or two people completely accountable when they had no village to turn to.

Again this is why we need self-help.  If we help ourselves first, imagine what we can then do for others in our own families and beyond. 

Leah Mullen, Author of AGAIN AND AGAIN
Please visit my site http://www.leahmullen.com/ blog: http://mylifeisapageturner.blogspot.com/ life coaching column: http://www.bellaonline.com/site/lifecoaching Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/leah_mullen Do we read the same books? check out my shelf http://www.shelfari.com/leah_mullen Visit my profile on http://www.amazon.com/ to see my latest book reviews and guides including "Be a Self-Actualized Black Woman!"