31 Letters – Letter #7

To: Old Grambling, Dear Grambling - Part 1

From: Me

Old Grambling, dear Grambling, We love thee, dear old Grambling We're loyal to thee, our dear old School, We'll fight for thee for evermore. And when life's game is fought and won, The hills will ring with victory's song. Old Grambling, dear Grambling, We love thee, dear old Grambling.

Old Grambling, dear Grambling, We love thee, dear old Grambling Long may thee stand 'til all the land Has felt the worth of thy great hand. And when thy sons to battle go, The hills will ring from shore to shore. Old Grambling, dear Grambling, We love thee, dear Old Grambling.

It took me a few days to write these letters. I needed to make certain that they were not filled with too much emotion, but instead a message filled with encouragement, change, forgiveness, and love.  Like anything else that I write I really had to allow God to hold the pen and put forth the spiritual message that we all need right now.  Don’t let the length of the letters deter you from reading them in their entirety.  Sorry.  This subject deserves much more than a status update on Facebook or a tweet on Twitter. 

Knowledge is power. 

Let’s start off in the good book, because everything that we see today has ALREADY happened and WILL 

happen again. 

Matthew 12:30

³⁰ “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.

James 4:11-12

¹¹ Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. ¹² God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?

Ephesians 4:29

²⁹ Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

Luke 6:31

And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

I’ve actually been trying to write this letter since earlier this year.  Every time I sit down to type the words…nothing except a deep sadness.  Grambling is my family and you don’t want anybody talking bad about your family.  But in every family there are those that choose to go against the grain a bit.  They like to stand out, so they say and do things to gain attention, but in the end they end up hurting themselves and the family name.

It breaks my heart when I read and/or hear negative feedback about my school or my hometown.  The only way that we can see true progress as a school or as a city is to work as if we are one unit – one body focused on one divine objective.

Do you think that it is an accident that we have the leaders that are currently serving in various capacities?  Nope.  God made this a part of His plan.  He knew when, where, and how He wanted things to manifest, so who are we to question what God meant for His glory.

I try not to waste too much energy when outsiders question the relevance of my school.  The fact that they dare to continue to bring up the band, football team, or the academic programs shows me that we are indeed still relevant.  In my opinion we are the elite as far as HBCUs are concerned.  We have a rich legacy that has been passed down from generation to generation, so because of that we have a Responsibility to our school.  We have a Responsibility to our community. 

During this year alone we’ve had quite a bit of negative attention, but also quite a bit of positive attention. No one wants to remember the good, but instead we swim in the negative. 

If you don’t like what you see around you, DO SOMETHING about it.  The key word in the last sentence is ‘DO’ not ‘SAY’.   It’s amazing I mean quite remarkable how much more can be accomplished when you use your hands to do versus your mouth to say. 

It is so easy to blame the leaders for any issues that may arise; however, our leaders are placed in positions to guide us.  They are not placed in positions to think for us.  They have to do what is right for the entire group that they lead.  Getting rid of the leader won’t necessarily solve the problem if the people aren’t willing to listen. 

Moses had a task to lead the people to the Promised Land. He had already taken them away from slavery in Egypt, but yet what did the people do?  They complained because things weren’t happening the way and in the timeframe they wanted them to happen.  When Moses went away to seek counsel from God, the people decided to do their own thing and build idols to worship. What is it with wanting things quick or in our time? The people turned against Moses over and over again. They had forgotten how far they had come. 

Oh, things just got real when I brought up the WORD.  Like I said in the beginning of this letter; everything that we see today has ALREADY happened and WILL happen again. 

What are you doing to change what you see around you? How will you leave your mark?

To be continued…