Folks, we are living in Flossin’ times, a time of contribution. It doesn’t matter if you are a big-timer or a little-timer. What matters is that when it hits the fan, we get busy. Those who help, give not just of themselves but they give their all. We commend these people.

After seeing the devastation of Hurricane Katrina on TV, I recall writing about the tragedy in Thailand. Both tragedies pulled at my mind and made me think about the randomness of death; but the tsunami was over there and about them, it had distance.

When my mother died, that pulled at my heart even though she fought the good fight and it was just her time. When Katrina hit, that pulled at my very soul and I asked myself why?

We attempt to blame it on levies, governments, poor people, wealthy people, the devil, and ever so carefully, our gods too. We, in our infinite wisdom, always find blame. For me, Katrina is all too real because it hit my people, my folks and my roots. But as I processed the naturalness of the catastrophe, it left me with a void. It is blameless.

There is an irony in this story. One does not know life until they experience the reality of death. All these things are over now, but in each instance, there must be a rebuilding. This is what concerns me: officials in Louisiana are attempting to use the same form of communication to have people return as they did, to have them evacuate; black people seem to be weathering a lot of storms but don’t ever seem to prosper as a result of them; and there are big-time developers out there right now waiting like sharks to take advantage of the disadvantaged.

Somebody ought to pay attention and we here are Flossin’ will be moderating the progress of this situation.

I also want to give a shout out to Ebony. If it was not for John Johnson, the founder of Ebony, I do not think I would have the same role in media today. He will truly be missed as a mentor. I thank him for opening the door. May I do his legacy honor!

With that said, I am very excited about this last issue of the year. Flossin’ has come a long way. Similar to the bright stars and information in this edition, we are living in a time of our greatest achievements and our greatest wealth. But there are always those that have great need. As I have said many times before, Flossin’ is all about going from the dark to the light. We are trying to educate, inspire and increase their wisdom. Please share a little Flossin’ with them.

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This article was originally published in Flossin Magazine. This article is edited by Edna Waters. This article is optimized for web by Steven Christian (Artist | Author | Podcaster).

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