Post 21: Tales from the Smile Box, Part III

Today is the Memorial King Holiday, and it is a day that I take time to remember and be thankful for all those who fought the good fight for our civil rights.

It always amazes me that the mere color of my skin, or even my gender, is a guage for judging who I am, or what I can become.

For if we all closed our eyes, none of us could tell who was black, white, asian, indian... we couldn't tell at all.

But someone said at some time in the past "You are inferior", just because you're a member of the minority race...

That had to tax a lot of people's minds back during that's time. Heck, it taxes a lot of people's minds right now, in 2010.

Many haven't reached their potential, haven't become all they could be...

Just because of what someone said about them.

And it brings me to a little quote that resides in my trusty smile box.

"It's not what others say or think about me, it is what I say and think about myself that's important."

I think I needed this basic truth back when I was a little girl. I really did.

You know, people can have us in such bondage. It seems like everything in life is based on someone else's approval of us. It is based on what someone says about us.

Not sure how things have gotten to that point. We have someone gotten things confused. Somehow, being approved of has gotten mixed up with being loved.

In many cases, that's just not true. All of that, well, it has to come from a healthy place...

But as for me, I put what other's say about me through several filters before I accept it.

First, is it the truth?

Does it bring peace and progress to my life?

If it is criticisim, is it constructive or is it meant to hurt me?

If it don't pass those filters, it gets chucked. Don't get me wrong, I take A LOT (really, too much) time thinking about what someone says about me, especially if it's someone who I have respect for. I really do.

People's perceptions are not always meant to be taken as truths, though.

And at the same time, I have to make sure I'm not saying something to someone that is not uplifting and not building them up.

Because it all boils down to this: the words coming from our mouths are full of power, enough so to change the course of one's life... even our own life.

For the better. Or sadly, for the worst.

So on this holiday, I think of the people who stood up and said "NO! I choose not to believe what you say. I choose not to believe that I have to sit in the back of the bus. I choose not to believe that I'm a second class citizen. I choose not to believe that I should not enjoy the rights of the majority."

I am thankful for those people, those people who chose to believe what they said and thought of themselves to be right and true. So much so, that they fought and died for our civil rights.

I can learn much from them.

You can too.