Right before joining the Army in 1999, I taught 8th grade American Studies at what was considered a middle school in a low-income, disadvantaged neighborhood.

At the end of each school year, the grades would have awards ceremonies where the teachers would give out certificates to the students with the top grades in each subject.

To my surprise and delight, all the students in my classes had gotten together, chipped in on a cheap frame and printed out a certificate in the out-of-date computer lab at school.

One of the top students for that year asked to speak, and on behalf of the entire class I was named “Teacher of the Year.”

Forget the standing ovation I received from the students and my colleagues.

Forget the cheap frame.

Forget the flimsy piece of paper that the certificate was printed on.

Take away all that and you only have left what matters…

Just the fact that my students took take the time to even think about presenting me with any kind of award at all is a priceless treasure that hangs on my heart always.

You can’t buy that kind of love and appreciation. I miss my kids everyday. Sniffle.

This post will be short. That’s because there’s no need to draw it out.

In honor of Trayvon Martin, many people co-opted his images to use as their social media avatars or to write articles in outrage against his senseless killing.

I’m sure some folks actually paid a licensing fee to the Associated Press or Getty Images or some other such photo provider to use Trayvon Martin’s image for their own purposes.

I’m also confident that many people in the social media sphere did not.

“We showed that we supported his family by using his image, so what’s the big deal,” someone might ask.

This is the point…

They may certainly exist, but I personally have yet to see one social media account user change his/her avatar to George Zimmerman’s image, and Zimmerman was able to garner over $200,000 in donations for his legal defense.

Trayvon Martin’s father, after some hesitation, finally admitted to Tom Joyner on The Tom Joyner Morning Show, that Trayvon Martin’s family was struggling to pay the expenses for a decent burial for their son.

So this is my question…

What’s wrong with this picture?

Many thanks to Tom Joyner for offering the family financial assistance.

I’m so proud of this latest site that I’ve launched.

The Independent Author Index.

I started it with 12 independent authors on 18 March 2012, and I’ve already increased that number to 43 authors! Including me, there are 44 profiles.

People seem to really like it so far, and I’m really pleased about that.

Today I featured an independent author who is only six years old! She denotes half the proceeds from her book sales to NICUs. I think that’s amazing.

Meet the authors who are a part of IAI already:

Abigail Brand is the 6 year old author/illustrator of the Hello Little Series. All her books are self-published, hand-written, and hand-illustrated, 14-page children’s books. See more	Rachelle Ayala was a software engineer until she discovered storytelling works better in fiction than real code. She has always lived in a multi-cultural environment See more	Tamika Newhouse is a self-published bestselling author who founded Delphine Publications, at the age of 21; Tamika appeared on various bestseller lists and won Self See more
Cynthia Highsmith-Hooks was born in Long Island, New York. The oldest child and only daughter in a family of four children, she’s been writing her entire life. Her first book See more	Mentor, guide and writer. Leo Averbach was born in South Africa, lived in the UK, where he married, fathered three children, got divorced and remarried. He now lives See more	Geoffrey is an inspirational-result based leader, Executive coach, Business advise, motivational-speaker, author and a successful corporate-sales-trainer. Geoffrey See more
Striving to inject her unique flair into the realm of contemporary fiction, Award-Winning, Best-Selling author Ni’cola Mitchell enter the literary scene with one main objective See more	Aileen grew up in Amanzimtoti South Africa and once married moved around the country quite a lot and eventually settling in Grodons Bay. She is truly blessed by God, knowing See more	Christina was raised in Orwell, Ohio. She move to Pennsylvania, and after receiving a bachelor’s degree from Robert Morris University, she began a career in writing. Christina See more
Tyrone Eddins, Jr., is the author of Bad Intentions, his debut novel. He is also the creator of the City High series and the founder and CEO of Scripted Visions Publishing Group. His See more	The sky is the limit for this sassy, sundry and prolific author. Elissa Gabrielle has broken the ceiling of literary excellence with her gift in the skill of multi-genre See more	Sasha Ravae, 25, is a native of San Francisco but called Sacramento, Ca her home for the past 10 years. Now residing back in the Bay Area, she has released her debut See more
John Knauf is an award-winning essayist and author with a lifelong interest in history, mythology, and literary fiction. He grew up in the heavily wooded See more	Since grade six, Kameisha has always been known for her ability to master and manipulate the English language to express herself. This was made manifest in her working See more	Frank Zappa, while staying at the Royal Garden Hotel in London, asked for a secretary to take down the lyrics of his album, Absolutely Free. The agency Pauline worked for See more
Kai Mann, a member of the Motown Writers Network is the author of 30 Day Notice; a novel published by Scriblical Vibez Publishing, a company that she founded in 2011. Kai See more	Bold Soul Diva of ΔΣΘ! Lover of N.O. bounce, Creole cooking…and fan of the New Orleans Saints through thick and thin! WHO DAT! Born and raised in Louisiana, Denetra See more	Kimberly Ranee Hicks is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and grew up in the Hill District where the popular 80s TV police drama, Hill Street Blues, was loosely based. Kim See more
Carl Thompson lives just outside Atlanta, is married, has two kids, a dog, and a degree in Film and Video Studies. He is a huge pop culture fan–a lover of movies, TV See more	Briana has a degree in Media Communications/Journalism. A combination of elements from her life, including family life, spirituality, faith, relationships, and See more	Lorraine Elzia is an Award-Winning Author, Editor and Literary Artist. With stories in seven anthologies, two novels, several co-authored/ghost written books See more
Laurie grew up in the picturesque islands of the South Pacific. Her father pioneered air travel to many of the tiny islands, and Laurie often accompanied him on his flights. She See more	The daughter of an entrepreneur, Jean saw the only limitations you have are the ones you put on yourself. In the early 60s, her father owned his own cab in NY, which was See more	Doranda Jacques is a published author. She was born and resides in New York. With an interest in writing since childhood, she had always concentrated her writing on See more
Maxine Brothers has been an writer since the day se first picked up a pen. She is an inspiration to other writers, providing both support and assurance in the endeavors of See more	Minister Cynthia Harris is a native of Atlanta, GA. She has spent the last ten years writing and directing Christmas and Easter plays and special events for her local church in See more	Jim F. Kukral is the CEO of a digital book marketing firm called Digital Book Launch. Jim is also the founder of a free book marketing resource for authors at Author See more
E. Milan lives in New York City. He fell in love with fiction from an early age and has grown into an avid reader and writer. He is an airline pilot and has flown for See more	Amanda Albright Still has held many jobs since she dropped out of law school: journalist, technical writer, editor, online restaurant critic, and risk manager on projects See more	M.G. Edwards is a writer of books and stories in the mystery, thriller and science fiction-fantasy genres. He also writes travel adventures. A former U.S. diplomat, he served See more
Natasha Simmons was born and raised in Beaumont, TX. Even as a kid she spent much of her spare time writing stories and poems. She has traveled and lived all over the See more	A former hip hop VJ, he conceptualized and produced “Hanging With AR”, a television show with a radio format where viewers could call in live and request video See more	An author, poet and graphic design entrepreneur, Tisean Bell is an emerging artist hailing from Prince George’s County Maryland. She earned her Bachelor of See more
Author of ‘Daydreams’, Rakeiya “Daydreamer” Bowden is a poet from Prince George’s County, Maryland. Daydreamer was a nickname given to her, because she was See more	Daughter of Ernest StClair a former US Soldier, and Erika Wittner who was German. Both of whom passed away several years ago. Tammy was born and raised in Germany. She See more	Pam Stucky believes in the power of risk and vulnerability, and that stepping outside one’s comfort zone is a direct path to joy. Pam is a travel enthusiast, an amateur See more
Zari reads. Zari writes. Zari eats. Zari plays. Zari is a work in progress. She loves to learn, and she has a heart for children and single parents. Zari is a freelance writer See more	Joe Flood is an award-winning writer and photographer who lives in Washington, DC. He spent his childhood in Illinois and Florida before coming to Washington to attend See more	LaKesha Womack is a published author, business consultant and professional speaker. She believes that you can have it all in life – personal, professional and See more
Luke Romyn spent many years, over seventeen in fact, working in the security industry. From door work in some of Australia’s roughest pubs and clubs to protecting See more	Justina Wheelock was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she currently resides. After years of working in the employment and training area, Justina decided to take her See more	Cendrine Marrouat was born in Toulouse, southern France, in the late 1970s. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English-to-French translation that she received in 2001 See more
Joey Pinkney is an award-winning book reviewer and author. Although he is working on several solo projects, his previously-published works have been in short story compilations. See more	Faydra was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma.She started her higher education at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, KY, where she See more

On 14 March 2012, I did a post called, “Procrastination or Patience?.”

I’m happy to report I finally had the moment of clarity on the journaling series, “30 Quotes 30 Days,” that I started back in 2010.

While the regular-sized version has room for writing down your thoughts about the quotes, I thought there should be a pocket companion of just the quotes.

With this idea in mind, I started setting up volumes two and three of the series; registering their ISBNs, doing the book covers and creating the pages, but something kept telling me to wait.

Although the wait may be frustrating for a couple of folks who ordered the pocket companion, I’m thankful that I did wait on Him to finish guiding me into this project.

What He told me to do was not create two, separate pieces—one regular-sized product and a pocket companion—from the whole, but to scale down the size of the regular-sized product, so that it is both a journal and pocket companion.

To some of you, this may seem like it would have been obvious, but originally I was thinking, “Well, what if people don’t need the journaling portion, but they just want the quotes?”

That was an issue for me, because the main purpose of the series is to help people begin to journal who have a hard time overcoming the blank page when they first get started. Each day of the journal has three parts:

• An original quote that I gleaned from things I’ve seen and/or experienced
• Followed by three questions; one that asks you to explain how the quote applies to you at this moment in your life, one that asks you what you want to remember about that particular day and the last one that asks you to write down one, good thing that happened to you that particular day
• Followed by three, blank-but-lined pages so you have more space to keep answering the questions and/or to write down your other thoughts/ideas

Well, with a scaled-down version of the regular-sized product, you don’t have to give up one to have the other, because you never know when you might want both, so…

Having said all that and now having my clearer focus, I can back up a bit and revise volume 1 and move on to my next volumes.

And, I will be sending free copies of the revised, first volume to all the people who purchased the original, regular-sized product, plus they’ll get volumes 2 and 3 for free.

It’s the least I should do to show them how much I appreciate their support.

If you’re interested, click the following image to sneak peek Volume 1 of “30 Quotes 30 Days.”

Yes, we can! Help Obama Patiently Endure and Overcome the forces that seek to continue to tear our country apart through the thoughts, words and deeds of the President’s opponents.

Since Ephesians 6:12* tells us that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places,” the main thing we have to do is P.U.S.H.!

PRAY UNTIL SOCIETY HEALS.

Because…

Romans 13:1* tells us to “let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.”

Also keep in mind…

James 2:17* tells us “even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone,” which means come election day…

YOU MUST GET OFF YOUR RUMP AND GO VOTE!

And…

Also remember that Matthew 5:44* implores you (and me) to “…love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you,”

because it will be in this way that we…

H.O.P.E. and Overcome while we P.U.S.H.!

My name is Faydra D. Fields, and I am just the messenger.

*all scripture references are from the King James Version of The Holy Bible.

…the blame rests solely on the people whose perception is that black, brown and even poor white people, especially young men and boys, in hoodies are criminals or criminal-minded.

The hoodie has become to the young, urban male what the short skirt is to the young, urban female. This seems to be especially true when we talk about non-rich/non-wealthy young people; people who live in the inner cities or come from the so-called “wrong side of the tracks.”

The perception is that a woman wearing revealing clothing is loose and available. If someone decides to take advantage of her, then she “asked for it.”

It’s the same as saying, “If you kill a young man or boy because his style of dress (in this case, the hoodie) appears to be sinister, then he “asked for it.”

This, more than anything, was what appeared to cause the outrage from so many people at Geraldo Rivera’s comments about parents allowing their children to leave the house in hoodies.

The hoodie is an innocuous piece of clothing, just like the windbreaker, the parka or the Letterman jacket.

However, if young people from the inner city or the “wrong side of the tracks” in windbreakers, parkas and Letterman jackets start committing crimes in large numbers, then those clothing items will join the ranks of the hoodie, Timberland boots and baggy jeans. They will be associated with crime and anyone wearing one of them will be perceived to be a criminal or criminal-minded.

So the issue here is perception.

If you don’t think perception is often more real in the human mind than what’s actually true, then you really should have another think coming.

Perception is the catalyst behind racial profiling, which is essentially what many people think George Zimmerman was engaged in when he saw Trayvon Martin walking down the street.

Young people don’t need to change the way they dress; whether it be the hoodie or the mini-skirt.

Judgmental people need to change the way they perceive young people because of the way they dress.

When we put the blame on the article of clothing, we abridge the humanity of the person wearing the article of clothing. We relegate the person to the status of the inanimate object, the article of clothing, and this is why it’s easier to blame the victim instead of punishing the victimizer.

People want George Zimmerman indicted, arrested and put on trial.

People want to put their trust in twelve jurors to get justice for Trayvon Martin; the justice they perceive that Martin deserves and only the justice system can mete out.

But think about this…

Isn’t reasonable doubt just another way of saying perception?

(click here to see some photos of people in hoodies and pick out the criminal from among them)

In the 43 years of my life, my mother has always been my strongest supporter, even when she knew and/or believed I was making some silly/terrible mistake that she knew she couldn’t save me from or knew that saving me from it wouldn’t help me learn from my own experiences.

My parents taught me to walk and talk, to read and write, to be a good citizen, to work and play well with others, to brush my teeth in the morning and before going to bed, to wipe my rump, to blow my nose, to tie my shoes, to cook my own meals, to manage my money, to be self-sufficient but to know I could depend on them if I ever took on more than I could handle, to believe in my abilities, to love the me that God created me to be and learn about Martin and Malcolm; Booker T. and W.E.B. and all the ancestors before, between and after them, to help those I could help and know my limits when helping others would be a detriment to my own well-being and so much more.

My daddy taught me to “go ask your mother.” He also taught me that a B+ was beneath me when I definitely had the knowledge and skills to get the A+. He taught me how to think and learn for myself by directing me to the proper references when I asked him, “Daddy, what does thus-and-such mean?” This is a lesson my brother, Carson III, continues to reiterate to our father every chance he gets (inside joke between my daddy, my brother and me ).

But…

The best lesson I’ve learned from my mother is the greatest gift she ever shared with me and my siblings…

I can remember, even when I was as young as five and six, that my mother never told any of us–my older sister, me and my younger brothers–that she would do something and then she didn’t do it.

There were a lot of “we’ll see” moments when I was growing up, and even now, but once my mother said she’d do this or that, give this or that, help with this or that, it was like a commandment written on a stone tablet.

It is truly a blessing to have at least one human in my life, because God will never fail me, who I can 100% depend on to be a woman of her word, point blank and period.

Momma has often said, “No,” and I’ve been disappointed in that I didn’t get what I wanted. However, Momma has more often said, “Yes,” and I knew that her “yes” was solid and firm.

I’ll give you an example…

Anyway…

I say all that to say this…

Every time I break my word to someone, I immediately think about how it goes against everything my parents emulated for me when I was growing up. Although I focused more on my mother, my daddy was the same way, but he did defer quite a bit to my mother, so she was the one giving us her word more times than not.

The purpose of this post is two-fold:

1) I was talking to a friend who was telling me how her spouse tells their children he will do something, but he hardly ever follows through, and it got me to thinking about my own experience with my parents and I just wanted to get my feelings out in written form.

2) I also want my parents to know that the life lessons they worked so hard to instill in their children were not taught in vain. Even though we may not always do the right thing, we definitely know the right thing to do.

Tammie, Daddy, Carson III (Boo), Momma, Tyrone, Faydra

Thanks, Momma and Daddy, for being the parents God called you to be. I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn for my siblings when I say we love you, we respect you and we will always honor and cherish you.

I chose the picture of the question mark at a crossroads, because of the subject matter of this post.

I’ve struggled with the question of whether I’m procrastinating or if there’s “something” innate prompting me to be patient.

This issue has occupied my thoughts so much that I started paying closer attention to what goes on when I have a task to complete and I’m not getting it done.

Amazingly, I seem to have mostly figured out when I’m procrastinating and when I’m in an actual holding pattern; being patient before I actually move forward.

I wrote that previous sentence is a wishy-washy way on purpose, because I don’t think I totally have the solution, but I know I’m on the right path.

For me, this is how I know which state I’m in…

If I’m procrastinating, I do everything else except that one thing that I know I should be doing, and I’m cognizant that I’m doing everything else except what I should be doing.

If I’m being patient–sitting in that holding pattern–I’m not trying to fill the time with other things I have going on, and I’m cognizant that I could be doing that thing that I’m not doing and that I’m not doing it because something is telling me to wait; be patient.

That might not make any sense to anyone else, but it makes perfect sense to me.

So here’s the rub…

Whether I’m procrastinating or being patient, they look like the same things to those outside of the scope of my mind, even though I know the difference between the two for myself.

This is when being comfortable in my own skin comes in handy.

Since I know myself, then others can’t make me feel badly when I’ve set a deadline and I miss that deadline. Something I learned from a brotha in the Nation of Islam when I was in undergraduate school: “God plans, and man plans, but God is the best of planners.” I heard that once, and it’s stuck with me all these years, because it’s definitely true, if you believe in God, and I do.

Usually, when I’m patient and stay in the holding pattern, that thing that I can’t put my finger on comes to pass and I’m like, “so that’s what I was waiting for?”

I’ve learned to be patient, because that thing always reveals itself in time.

I’ve also learned to push through procrastination when I’m not waiting on anything and just avoiding getting something done while I do everything else besides.

Anyway, maybe you’ve found yourself at the same crossroads. Hopefully, something I’ve shared helps you discern whether you’re wasting time or waiting on perfect timing.

You’ve either witnessed this scenario (or something similar to it) or created it (or something similar to it):

Them: Oh, my goodness! You did such a great job on this. It was way more than I expected. Please take this (insert monetary value here) for all the extra work you did.

You: Oh, no, I couldn’t. I am happy to do it free. You don’t need to pay me.

Them: I insist. Please. You worked so hard and did so much more than you needed to do. I want to.

You: You don’t have to do that.

Them: I know, but I want to.

You: I don’t want you to think I did the extra just to make you feel like you should pay me.

Them: I don’t think that at all. Please take this. I want you to have it.

You: I couldn’t.

Them: Please.

You: I don’t feel right about taking your money.

Them: You’re not taking my money. I’m giving you what I think your time is worth.

You: No, thank you, but I appreciate you being willing to pay me.

Then you walk away thinking you’ve done something noble, but in the back of your mind you think, “Dang, I could have used that to put a little gas in the car or pay my cellphone bill…” or something like that.

My philosophy is this…

Be a blessing, get a blessing, but don’t only seek a blessing while being a blessing.

Regardless of whether your spiritual, religious, worldly, whatever, the universe is cyclical:

Give and it shall be given unto you…

What goes around comes around…

What you sow so shall you reap…

You gotta give to get…

It’s all about the karma, dude…

You do dirt, you get dirt…

Bless others so that you might be blessed…

Bottom line…

It’s not always about you!

You do the work from the goodness of your heart, and the other party wants to compensate you from the goodness of his/her heart.

Let it happen!

They don’t need you to tell them they don’t have to do it. They already know that, and they’ve chosen to compensate you in some way for your time, your talent and/or your willingness to be a help to them. Their giving to you will in turn allow them to receive from others. I mean, they’ve already received your good works, so let them do their good works by you.

Did you ever think that refusing to allow someone else to bless you blocks their blessings, too?

I looked up the word cupid last year on dictionary.com.

Towards the end of the page, I saw this:

I’d never heard the word, cupidity, so I was curious to see it’s meaning.

This is what I found:

I also learned that synonyms to cupidity are covetousness, avidity, hunger, acquisitiveness.

Further down the page on dictionary.com it says…

I decided last year to forego any Valentine’s Day activities, but I totally respect your choice to exercise your free will to do as you please.

I’m going to appreciate my family, my guy and my friends loving me everyday without condition and without the added expense, and I’ll reciprocate in kind.