A Gift to My People

In the spirit of the Christmas season, I wish to give all of my readers a very special gift. I wish to give to each of you the power to be a free thinker. Forgive me if you already possess this most precious of gifts, yet feel at liberty to re-gift it to all whom you know need it.

Now some of you may be wondering where I get off giving a gift such as the power of free thought, and your question may indeed be valid, since I do not own free thought, nor did I purchase extra in order to give it away. Free thought is one of those inalienable rights that come with being a free person. So technically, I am giving you something you already have. Consider me to be like the person that teaches you to program the DVD player you have or the one that shows you how to use that computer program for which you paid top dollar. Although you already possess the instruments, it often takes another to demonstrate their use.

Still you may ask, "Why free thinking as a Christmas gift?" In my mind, Christmas represents a time when Almighty God gave the best he had to offer, His Son Jesus the Christ. In like manner, when I consider the meager contributions I can give others; teaching and challenging others to think freely and without the encumbrance of group paranoia simply is the best gift I can offer.

To be a free thinker means to consider and examine evidence carefully, arrive at opinion of truth without others telling you what you should believe simply because everyone in your ethnic group, neighborhood or nation believes something to be true. The phenomenon called "group think" is dangerous on many levels, perhaps most dangerous because it robs the individual of lessons learned on the journey of self-discovery. I cannot rave enough about valuable life lessons learned from my being right as well as being wrong. Of course, it is perfect fine to agree with the group on issues of common sense, such as do not play in traffic to discover its danger or put one's hand in fire to discover it burns.

On the contrary, the designation of freethinking applies to the determination of values and core beliefs. How did you arrive at what you say you believe? This is a crucial question in determining whether you practice as a free thinker. If someone told you that a certain value was in your best interest, and you accepted that value as truth for you without examination on merit, then you may not be a free thinker. For example, I became a Christian on faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, but subsequent to even that faith, the examination of Christian values produces a commitment to their merit for my life.

How does this apply today? The proof of the absence of freethinking in our contemporary culture is the manner in which we lash out at those who look like us but have the audacity to embrace different opinions. I experience this among my own ethnicity in reaction to my thoughts and opinions. To criticize our own behavior seems to mean that one must wish to disassociate themselves from the group. As a free thinker, I say the opposite is just as much a possibility. Constructive criticism is evidence of great love and hope for improvement. If my mother said, "do not leave the house without combing your hair", does she wish to disassociate from me? On the contrary, her desire is to see me improve myself as well as my representation of my family. Has my mother ever publically corrected me? Of course, she has, when she deemed it necessary. This too was a demonstration of her love for me.

To deny the right of those who love us to speak freely and openly of our problems under fear of indictment as "Uncle Toms", "house Negroes", "white man negroes" and the sort, is to effectively ignore the evidence of our need for help exposed on a daily basis. Read the newspaper, watch television, listen to the radio with an open, freethinking mind, and tell me if you come away with the notion that all is well among black folks. Ignore the so-called "white media" and listen or read only "urban media" and be honest about your conclusion. Do you still think no one should say anything? Five minutes of listening to the callers on the Michael Baisden Show tells me we are in deep doo-doo.

This is why I offer the gift of that which each of you possesses already, the ability to form your values and beliefs based on your own examination of the presentations made to you. You can do it, you can think for yourself. You do not need some pundit to think for you, all you need is to examine the evidence and decide what you believe to be true. Be sure to remember that every free thinker welcomes dissent either as a means to be courageous enough to modify beliefs, or as a means to strengthen one's own stance.

So this Christmas I offer this simple phrase, to my people from 1 to 93, though it has been said many times and many ways, Merry Christmas and let your thinking be free.