I’ve recycled this poem a couple of times. It was originally born in support of a dear friend who suffered an unimaginable loss. Before I could share it with her, I misplaced it and sought to recreate it from memory. What you read here, this final piece, in the days following the horrific shootings at Virgina Tech.

Haiti deserves a fresh poem. A gift that belongs to Haiti alone. And it will come. But…for now, I find it hard to string words together that will convey my feelings. No, I’m not Haitian. But I am human. And my heart is heavy for Haiti. Make no mistake about it - while my heart is heavy, it does not wrap itself in pity.

After all, if the history of Haiti has taught us nothing else, it will forever leave us with a hymn of strength, resilience…a psalm of praise for the overcomers. We mustn’t forget - it was Haiti who first said NO to slavery. And while the world exacted an economic price for that bold decision, Haiti will forever remain free in a way that the rest of the world will never understand.

Who could pity that?

Life changes, moment to moment. Nothing remains the same. Each and every moment brings with it a change, a revision to what we think of as “normal”. An everyday occurrence that we take no notice of – after all, it’s “normal”. Sometimes, events come together, ripping the very fabric of “normal” such that it ends up looking like a patchwork quilt. And so it is this week. There is a hole in the fabric…but not in our soul. We cry, hold onto to each other, sift through our memories as we wade through the hurt, reminding ourselves that beauty lies on the other side of the pain that has come into our midst, uninvited.

When hope stutters. We have to reach deep inside ourselves – give thanks for the foundation that holds us up even in the midst of such a tragedy. We hold our family/friends tighter, vow to call or visit more often, volunteer more often, offer random acts of kindness to those we pass every day because…moment to moment, we do not know. And so, we promise to live better, love deeper, be present, pay attention, build the dream.

When hope stutters. We remind ourselves that pain is real. And we must remind ourselves that so is healing.

The Haiti you see on the news today is not the Haiti of tomorrow. Rest your understanding and healing on that. Let that become the bass line accompanying your grief.

Haitians are resilent, beautiful people with a rich, deep history.

Trust and believe…Haiti will reteach the world the story of its loveliness.

As Haiti works to restore itself, to reach for a new and higher glory, I urge you to not only GET involved but to STAY involved. Not only in Haiti but in issues that may be closer to home for you. Tutor a child. Teach an adult to read. Donate food to local foodbanks. Do what you can where you can and know that nothing you do or give from a sincere heart is EVER too small.

Walk in Love,
*~* MsJayye *~*

I pray each of you as peaceful a Friday as your heart can stand.
~ J ~

In 2002, Giovanni contributed to a Smithsonian special exhibition, In the Spirit of Martin: The Living Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Following is her poem, In The Spirit of Martin:

** Yes - it is almost time to flip the page on the calendar and land on the bright, shiny new landscape of February. HOWEVER, there is still time in January to have a check-up. Or take it over into February. Bottom line: “Just do it!”. Let’s love ourselves in 2010 and beyond to take care of ourselves mentally, physically, financially, spiritually, etc. You can’t be at your best or give your best to others if you do not first give that to yourself. You are worth it. **

January is National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month: Women’s Health Advocates Urge Women to ‘Take the Pearl Pledge’ to Protect Themselves and Other Women From Cervical Cancer

UPPER MARLBORO, Md., Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/ — The Pearl of Wisdom Campaign to Prevent Cervical Cancer wants women to protect themselves - and their mothers, daughters, sisters and friends - from this preventable disease. Thus, in honor of National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month in January, this coalition of leading women’s health advocates today launched its “Take the Pearl Pledge” initiative, which asks women to: schedule their annual gynecologic examination, wear a Pearl of Wisdom in support of cervical cancer prevention, and encourage 5 friends to do the same. The campaign aims to secure 4,070 pledges - the same number of U.S. women who were projected to die of cervical cancer in 2009 - by Mother’s Day (May 9, 2010). Women can participate in the “Take the Pearl Pledge” effort at www.PearlofWisdom.us/Pledge.

“Cervical cancer is the second leading cancer in women worldwide. This year in the United States, more than 11,000 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer and more than 4,000 women will die of this disease,” said Tamika Felder, cervical cancer survivor and founder of the nonprofit organization, Tamika and Friends (), the lead U.S. partner in the Pearl of Wisdom campaign. “Cervical cancer, however, is almost always preventable - with the Pap test, the HPV test and the HPV vaccine. We want women to know this, to ask for the prevention tools that are appropriate for them, and to help us get the word out to other women by wearing their pearl and starting the conversation.”

Following, according to the Pearl of Wisdom campaign, is what every woman should know:

* Girls and young women: Ask your healthcare provider about the HPV vaccine, which protects against the two types of HPV (human papillomavirus) that cause the majority of cervical cancers. The vaccines are recommended for girls 11 to 12 years old, and are approved for girls and young women up to age 26. Even women who have been vaccinated will still need to be screened.

* Women age 21 or older: Get the Pap test, which detects abnormal cells that can lead to cervical cancer.

* Women age 30 or older: Get the Pap test and the HPV test together as part of routine cervical cancer screening. The HPV test detects the virus that causes cervical cancer, identifying those women at increased risk who will need to be monitored more closely.

“Unlike other cancers, cervical cancer is almost always preventable because we know what causes it - HPV infection - and we have the tools available to prevent this cancer,” said Susan Wysocki, WHNP-BC, FAANP, president and CEO of the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (), a partner in the Pearl of Wisdom campaign. “With proper screening and vaccination, no woman should lose her fertility to or die of this disease.”

For the “Take the Pearl Pledge” initiative, women can purchase a Pearl of Wisdom, the global symbol for cervical cancer prevention, at . All proceeds go to the U.S. Pearl of Wisdom Campaign Fund, which supports U.S.-based cervical cancer prevention activities. Women can also wear their own pearl to participate.

Pearl of Wisdom campaign partners are also sharing information about cervical cancer prevention and the “Take the Pearl Pledge” with their members. National campaign partners include American Association of University Women, American Medical Women’s Association, the American Social Health Association, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, the Balm In Gilead, Black Women’s Health Imperative, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the Global Summit of Women, Gynecologic Cancer Foundation, HealthyWomen, the Hicks Foundation, the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health, the National Council of Women’s Organizations, the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Society for Women’s Health Research, Tamika and Friends, Women In Government, the Yellow Umbrella Organization, and others.

About Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide. In the U.S., the American Cancer Society estimated that in 2009, 11,270 women would be diagnosed with cervical cancer and 4,070 women would die of the disease. Cervical cancer is caused by persistent infections with high-risk types of the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is a very common sexually transmitted infection that 3 of 4 adults will have at some time in their lives. Most of these infections go away on their own without treatment. Infections that do not go away on their own can lead to cervical cancer.

A Pap test is the traditional method used for cervical cancer screening. An HPV test identifies women who are infected with high-risk types of HPV that could potentially lead to cervical cancer. Clinical studies suggest that screening with both a Pap test and an HPV test offers women aged 30 and older the best protection against cervical cancer. HPV vaccines, recommended for 11- to 12-year-old girls and approved for young women up to age 26, have been shown to be highly effective at preventing infection with the two most common types of HPV that cause approximately 70% of all cervical cancers. HPV vaccination does not protect against all the HPV types that can cause cervical cancer; thus, women who have been vaccinated still need to be screened.

About the Pearl of Wisdom Campaign to Prevent Cervical Cancer

The Pearl of Wisdom Campaign to Prevent Cervical Cancer is a united, global effort to raise awareness of the opportunities now available to prevent cervical cancer. The campaign increases awareness of the new means of preventing cervical cancer, encourages women to take full advantage of these methods, and advocates for the implementation of these tools for girls and women everywhere. The campaign promotes the Pearl of Wisdom as the global symbol for cervical cancer prevention. All profits from purchases of the Pearl of Wisdom go to the U.S. Pearl of Wisdom Campaign Fund to support cervical cancer prevention activities. The Pearl of Wisdom campaign was launched in the U.S. in 2009, where it is led by the national nonprofit organization, Tamika and Friends, Inc., and includes more than 20 national partner organizations. The campaign is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from QIAGEN, Inc.

SOURCE Tamika and Friends, Inc.

RELATED LINKS

** This post is something I shared with my “Daily Motivators” Group back in August 2008. As I was cleaning out my emails, I happened upon it and thought it share worthy. Hopefully you will feel the same. Feel free to leave your footprints in the comments section or in my guest book. Keep Rising! **

What You Know Must Come

Go ahead and be the person you are here now to be. Go ahead and experience the richness of all that is in this moment.

Your most authentic intentions have brought you to this point. Just as reliably, those intentions are moving you forward even now. Whatever you are certain that you will create, is already taking shape. Whatever you know to be possible, has already begun to happen.

There is no need for striving to make things happen. Those things for which you must strive won’t bring real value anyway. Instead, focus on the real and valuable and meaningful things you can lovingly and gratefully allow to be. With your thoughts, your actions and your energy, bring to life what you already know to be good and worthwhile and true.

The very life that you most earnestly desire is ready for you to let it become real. What you know must come, is already on the way.

– Ralph Marston

No matter how many times God shows up and/or shows out in my life, I am as much in awe and in love with Him as I was the very first time I realized that He loved me. He is not new to me but I pray each and every day to be “NEW” in Him. I offer this mini-testimony because every once in a while, I let me self get sidetracked. I allow myself to momentarily lose focus on where I’m going and why. I take full responsibility for that. Why? Because God has already spoken the destination into my life, confirmed and reconfirmed it and blessed me with His GPS (God’s Protection/Provision System). I started sending these posts to some friends at work. Sometimes I didn’t even read them – I would just cut, paste, send. But when I slowed down long enough to read them, to absorb them? They did indeed hit home. Alright, on to the meat of the subject….

“Go ahead and be the person you are here now to be.” Dive into who you are meant to be with both feet until you are simply saturated in YOU up to the very tip top of your head. Baby, stop trying to be like whoever cause there is a job description out there specifically designed for YOU. You cannot fail at this job. DO YOU. BE YOU. All day, every day – 24/7, 365, twice when it’s Leap Year.

Find out what you are here to do and set about doing it. Today. Take small steps if you need to. As someone once said to me, “YOU DON’T HAVE TO GET IT RIGHT – JUST GET IT GOING.” True words.

Stop “getting ready”, stop “thinking about it”, stop “researching”. Call it what it is - “analysis paralysis”, procrastination, fear. Name it, claim it, sit it down and then evict it. Be on fire for YOU, for who YOU are. Let that fire light the way.

Once you make up your mind and take the first step, you will be amazed at the resources and people who seem to just rise up out of nowhere to help you move further into your calling.

Dream BIG.

Dream Bold Inspired Goals.

I dream a dream so big it gives me butterflies and I know that it is nothing but God painting the picture. The world may tell you “NO” in both subtle and not-so subtle ways.

Put the world on notice that the One who called you into “WHAT YOU KNOW MUST COME” specializes in the intangible, the invisible, the improbable, the impossible and He has never failed.

Dream YOU.
Dream big.
Dream constantly.
Dream wide awake.
Dream in motion.
DREAM OUT LOUD.

Live DELICIOUSLY!
*~* MsJayye *~*

Skating makes for good exercise. So I’ve heard. Don’t get me wrong – I believe it is. It’s just that…I don’t skate so I can’t speak from personal experience.

Growing up, I wanted to learn to rollerskate. AND…to iceskate. But there were just a few obstacles. First, I don’t think we could have afforded skates. Secondly, where would I have skated? We lived outside the city limits – no sidewalks, no park. And the street we lived on was ALWAYS busy – always so you know Ma Dukes was NOT gonna have that. (And the iceskating? Now you know if there was no where to rollerskate, iceskating was definitely out of the question. Plus, there was this little issue I had with being cold. *shrug*)

Years later when inline skating was all the rage, I was reminded how much I wanted to skate. Again. Still…never learned.

How did I come to have skating on my mind these days? I was sitting home over the holiday weekend, thinking about things I wanted to get done this year. Things related to my health. My house. Finances. My writing, etc.

I was half-watching something on TV. A young Black girl was skating around without a care in the world, afropuffs sitting high and tight, bright yellow dress, smile to rival the sun.

And my spirit nudged me: “That’s you.”

Now if you’ve been here before, you may have heard me say when it comes to listening for and hearing the voice of God, I don’t do “signs and wonders” because I will end up wondering if everything is a sign. LOL

So, I heard that spiritual nudge and pondered…was it a sign? Was 2010 the year I would finally learn to skate?

Spirit raised one eyebrow ever so slightly, as if to say, “Seriously?”

And then it dawned on me: That little girl was ME. I had never learned to skate physically but…I’d become a master at skating through life.

*S-I-G-H*

Gut punched myself. Again.

It’s true. I have become a MASTER at skating through life. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve had my share of bumps and bruises but in spite of whatever has come my way, I have a good life.

…the issue is, I’m destined to have a GREAT life.

And that great life is possible. If I would simply stop skating around what I want to do, what I was purposed to do, what I was created to do.

If I simply stopped skating around the edges of the dreams that were stitched into my spirit, laced into my heart.

If I would “simply” get out of my own way.

Some say it would behoove me to analyze the “why” behind my skating. Perhaps. Or maybe stopping to analyze at this point would equate to me putting a ramp of some kind in the path of my “skating”. I would still be “skating” so what would be the point?

One thing I’ve learned (and have had life remind me of) is that, sometimes the “why” behind our behaviors or choices isn’t as important as the “how” of identifying the behavior and correcting it.

Sometimes traveling towards “how” reveals the “why”.

And on that note, my skating days are over. Hanging up my metaphorical skates.

Skating always LOOKS easy. But As I nursed this gut punch, I realized that like with most everything else, there’s a cost. For skaters, there’s the time and effort they put into their rcraft, forfeiting other things along the way. There’s the training, etc.

And there’s a cost to metaphorical skating as well. Time wasted looking for a life that’s waiting for me to notice it, to dive it and live it out loud. Shelving of gifts that I’ve been blessed with that could help not only me but others. There’s the cost to my heart, spirit and mind as I fight without myself so unncessarily. Is it worth the cost of my heart, spirit and mind being unsetttled, unfulfilled? No.

Yeah, skating might be great exercise but skating through life?

It’s an exercise in futility.

Live SoulFULLY,
*~* MsJayye *~*