Hi, there. Brother Samuel here. A big and tall, fairly good-looking black man in his mid-twenties. A college graduate. An openly bisexual black person of Haitian descent. An urban poet and recently published writer. An adventurer. A crusader for just causes. A lover. A chronicler of my fellow bisexuals. I am all these things and more. These days, life is okay, I guess. I'm slowly coming to terms with my limitations. I am not a god. I'm just a man with extraordinary levels of intelligence, ability and perception. I've taken it upon myself to do what my fellow man cannot. Does that make me a superman? I don't think so.
In the faraway land of Denmark, they are getting ready to ban circumcision in general, shielding all future generations of men and women from that barbaric practice. I am thrilled about this because I'm an uncircumcised man. I'm just the way Mother Nature and God made me. Yet many in American society feel that modified men are the norm and unmodified men are freaks. Talk about backward logic. Give me a break. If you ask me, ordinary men and women shouldn't try to fix what mother nature has made. And parents don't have the right to alter their sons in the name of outdated religious practices. Not without their consent. To hell with traditionalism. Let's embrace modernity and liberalism!
In the not-so distant land of Delaware, a major university is getting ready to take away athletic opportunities from innocent young sportsmen in the name of helping young sportswomen who already have far more athletic opportunities than their male counterparts. And some of the young women are protesting this injustice. They call it insuring equality. I call it political correctness gone amok. The young sportsmen and sportswomen at the university are calling it plain wrong. Will the Powers That Be listen to them? I pray to God that they do. I don't want to see any young men lose their sports teams because of a rigid quota based on a law that needs changing. I would do anything to help them. But I'm not a member of the Powers That Be. And I am not a god.
Earlier that day, the twenty-fourth day of November 2008, I bought a cup of coffee for a homeless young white man. It was the human thing to do. The guy was cold, and shivering. I thought a warm cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts would warm him up. His name is D.J. and I see him often at the Champion City Community Library. As we shared some coffee, he shared his worries with me. About a week ago, a homeless man in the city was attacked and set on fire by an unidentified person. I find myself thinking that whoever did this, he or she must be a hardcore psychopath. Not every miscreant can do something so cruel. It takes a level of ruthlessness the average criminal lacks. I've known and fought against my share of psychopaths and sociopaths. I'm related to several, in fact. My father, sister and aunt are all psychopaths. And they're the most charming people you will ever meet.
After I got done with my mid-afternoon meal, I wished D.J. goodbye and good luck before heading to the bus station. While I approached the station, I saw Nassau, a tall black policeman, arguing with a poorly dressed white guy and large white woman. The pair gave him dirty looks as he told them to go away. I've known Nassau for many years. When I told him I wanted to get into law enforcement after college, he was thrilled and gave me inside info about the business opportunities on the field. He's an okay guy most of the time. Today, I saw him angry. Because the surly white guy he was arguing with called him the nastiest word one can call a black person by. Yeah, that one. Wow. Amazing. A black man is the President of the United States of America. A black man is the Governor of Massachusetts, my home state. Yet there are many racist white men and white women out there who wished they lived in the old days. To hell with them. I don't even let them upset me anymore. Moving on.
On the bus leading to Brockton Community College, I saw a young Asian man making out with his boyfriend, a large Hispanic guy. Wow. Some of the older women on the bus stared at them and shook their heads. I simply smiled and shrugged. Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts. And in Connecticut. Someday, the rest of the country will follow. Why should only straight couples be allowed to marry? Most heterosexual marriages end in divorce. I know of many gay and lesbian couples who show each other more love and respect than most unhappily married straight women and straight men show to their spouses. If two men who are in love want to marry, then good for them. Same goes for two women in love who want to marry. And that's the law in my state. If you're a hater, a religious fundamentalist or a staunch conservative living in the past, then get the heck out of the state. Move along. Peace.
Yeah, it's a tough life out there. Whatever you want, you've got to fight for it tooth and nail. And you don't always win. Sometimes the forces of evil are backed up by the law, the political system and the Powers That Be. That doesn't make them right. You've got to keep on fighting. Like the mighty Thor, the wise Odin and the rest of the Norse gods and goddesses of Scandinavian mythology, you've got to fight the darkness even when you know you're doomed. Why? Simply because it's the right thing to do. The alternative is simply unthinkable. We absolutely cannot let the forces of evil win without a fight. Often, the odds are overwhelmingly in their favor. And we feel like giving up. We can't let the villains take the prize (whatever might be at stake that day ) without a fight. We must be dedicated to opposing them as a matter of course and give one hundred percent.
I arrive at the Brockton Community College campus. I walk into the Student Center and head to the library. While sitting at a computer terminal, I feel someone touching my shoulder. I turn around. Guess who it is? A face I never thought I'd see. The face of Jezula Charleston, a gal I haven't seen in years. She was my best buddy in high school. We dated for a while. Wow. I am so happy to see her. Impulsively, I kiss her. And she kisses me. She sits next to me, and we begin talking. Where has she been? What is she doing here? Jezula tells me that after graduating from high school, she attended the University of Michigan, where she earned her MBA. Afterwards, she started working for a small company in Marquette. She returned to New England a few weeks ago and came to visit city college because she was bored. And how amazing was it that we ran into each other!