J

I didn’t have to carry those boxes or backpacks.     J could have managed & Granny is tougher than people like me give her credit for.     I helped anyway.    Walked the several blocks from the park to their home.   Even took the cut behind the townhouses.   Granny told us to walk ahead of her cause of “long legs” but we both knew it was her asthma.  

Next came something real special.  

This young man walking beside me was telling me how he’s gonna keep his head in the books this year.   He’s “gonna get good grades, and find a job that hires a fourteen year old black kid.”    It’s unfortunate that he knows somehow that will make a difference.   “I need to save money so I can go to Y and train so I can make the football team… and not be bored.   It’s so boring here.”    I asked him how he thought he would get to the Y and back since it’s not close.   Of course the bus was J’s answer, no surprise there.  

Next question was “If you could, what would you do to make your neighborhood not boring?”  “Well I would want a place to help kids with their homework, and like a pool to swim in… and like a place for kids with disabilities ya know?”   He paused for a really long time.    “Maybe when people need help finding homes I can help them do that too?”

He opened the screen door and I had no idea how we got there so fast.    I wiped the tear that had fallen without permission.   He took the handful of boxes and backpacks I carried, gave me a hug and ran upstairs.    I don’t know how many of our boys will go to college, get their dream jobs, or even out live me. I don’t know if what I say to them, every time, gets through. All I know is that I have to keep loving them, and encouraging them.    J’s goals used to be very different.    Not bad, but now he is thinking of others instead of just himself.   He was thinking about giving back.   Making an impact, a difference.   He was thinking about more than the hoop or the corner.   And you know what?

I couldn’t be more proud.