Let's Grow: Editorial Piece

Let’s Grow


What I want to emphasize is the essence of growing, and developing substance. I remember, just recently, I was walking to the market on Village, and I saw a couple of kids engaging in some physical activities. Of course, the kid in me wanted to entertain this premature royal rumble as the on-going fiasco was taking place, but, the mature side felt the need to intervene. When I attempted to step in, to my surprise, kids were actually trying to push me away, because they were so determined in witnessing the outcome of this melee. At that moment, I asked myself, “Has the children of Elmont succumbed to the sheer thrill of violence, and ignorance, because it fuels excitement, and amusement?”

What befuddles me, is the fact that the children of Elmont are sometimes under the impression that we’re living in an impoverished area like East New York – where drugs and violence are prevalent. As a college student who attended Howard University in Washington DC – the on and off again murder capital, where dead bodies are ubiquitously found on every street corner – I came to realize that the infamous Bill Withers “Ain’t No Sunshine” wasn’t just a song that these people enjoyed listening to religiously, but was a harsh reality that they’ve come to accept. I always wondered why these people spewed such venom, and malice towards the newly arrived college students. One may grimly argue that jealously is a huge contributor. Well, if people are living desolate – destitute of prosperity outside of Pennsylvania Avenue, can you blame them? Can you blame people for being upset at the fact that everyday they’re undergoing a constant battle within themselves, debating whether they’ll make it home alive? Those two years of my life, opened my eyes up, and made me realize how good I have it. People living in poverty stricken areas don’t, unfortunately, have the resources we in Elmont are lucky to have. Our parents’ 9-5 is different from those living in areas like Watts, Detroit, Newark, etc. While they’re off to work, whether it is in an office, or a bank, the people far worse, are working as well, but in the streets. What we as society deem as taboo is what people enduring those tortuous conditions consider living. So why jeopardize your future over a skirmish involving sneakers, or things that hold little to no value. Why feel the need to posses a thuggish persona when indeed you’re living in a $ 500,000 dollar home, with a dog named skip canoodling his doggie treat, while you’re parents are contemplating whether Curacao or St Thomas would be a suitable vacationing spot?

Look around you people. We have it good. We may not be the richest out of the bunch, but we’re surely doing alright. We need to appreciate every morsel of life, because we’ve been positioned in such a righteous area, where violence isn’t rampant, where life doesn’t appear austere, or colorless, but more importantly, where sunshine is always beaming through our windows.