It is the beginning of the second half of the year. I took a few days off as of July 1st to be and reconnect with myself. I’m exhausted. It has been a heck of a year thus far, and I’m hopeful that the coming months will be different in a good way. To say 2020 is an acquired taste is an understatement.
Many Instagram accounts have posted memes urging us to cancel 2020. However, I can not help but look at 2020 as a significant year. It is a year that we will forever remember, one that has stretched us well beyond our comfort zone. A year has shown us the holes in our society and, optimistically, a year that starts the beginning of real change.
A year that has taught us it is necessary to embrace uncertainty. And how beautiful is humanity when we unite? We have seen how something as simple as the color of a person’s skin can cause them to be killed senselessly. But we have also noticed that when people have had enough, they will courageously stand up and demand something different. I urge you to lean into 2020
It is a “Holiday weekend” Have you chosen to celebrate, and what exactly will you be celebrating this year? I have never really celebrated July 4th, but this year as it approaches, I can not help but think about FREEDOM, EQUALITY, and INCLUSIVENESS. The elusive goal of freedom that America once promised has not yet been achieved. But this is the time for us to look at our past or confront our history to find new ways to create an inclusive and expansive future.
Before I end this, my Dahlings, I would like to share something with you.
On July 5th, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a keynote address at an Independence Day celebration. I want to share that speech in its entirety to provide you with something to think about.
Frederick Douglass
“Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, too Ñ great enough to give frame to a great age.
It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not; certainly, the most favorable, and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots, and heroes, and for the good they did and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory….
