Last Breath

Three years ago today I watched my aunt Sabah take her last breath in this world in her hospital bed. It is a moment in time that is so heavy of a burden to carry, that that day plays in my mind often. I could tell you each and every detail of that day, like it was today. It was the first time I watched someone fight death.

My aunt Sabah, my fathers sister.

Losing friends or family is a really hard thing. I lost my mother in a car accident 12 years ago. It was my dad, mom and I in a van traveling back home, when we were hit by a red light runner. The van was flipped, and my father and I survived the wreck. My mother was laying in the middle of the intersection barely alive. She died on the way to the hospital in the same ambulance I was riding in.

My parents and I.

Many of us don't talk about loss or deal with it well. I have lost so many people that I feel like I've become numb to it all sometimes. When you get a call this person past or that person past or this person is on their way to passing. Neither one of these experiences is easier than the other to deal with.

What I have learned over the years with loss, is that it is truly important to be the best that you can be as a mother, brother, sister, father, niece, nephew, uncle, aunt, grandpa, grandma, uncle aunt ...you get the hint. Just be a good person. Do not judge, or disrespect. Do not hate or wish bad things on people. Do not push people away from you, just because you are having a bad a day.

Everyday on earth is a gift. You should treat it as it was intended to be treated as "the greatest gift on earth....LIFE"!

Quote:

"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." Marcus Aurelius

I took this photo in OBX, NC. It was a peaceful day.

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

We use to say this every single day. This use to be mandatory in schools. While many protested it, it was a daily reminder that we were one Nation! I don't care which "God" you believe in or if you don't believe in anything. The meaning of what this was, was that we were one nation, one power, equal to one another under a power so great that it defines us as a whole. The one power that is so strong it makes us all stronger. Stronger to defeat hate, racism, prejudice, and evil in this world.

But that is no longer the case my friends. We hide, we find rocks to crawl under, we run the other direction. We no longer face this evil together. We watch a few take this evil on and we watch them get defeated over and over again. We cannot defeat this evil with the same hate, prejudice and violence. they show towards us. This evil is everything that is out there in this world today that is keeping humanity from living free. Keeping humanity from moving forward.

Time, over and over again repeats itself. We know this, we were taught this in school. However, I don't want to believe this any longer. Time does not have to repeat itself. We can push forward. We can move time. We do not need to keep rewinding to a past filled with unrest. and hate. We must move time. Move time to an era we once again, as educated people of this land, "pledge our allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all".