WHEN GIVING UP IS NOT AN OPTION

[Dianne Rosena Jones]

I was talking to a sista friend recently who was very depressed and despondent about her health. I have always seen this lady as a strong black woman. Frankly, it took me by surprise to hear her talk about being tired and just wanting to give up. Then I remembered there does come a time in each of our lives when we feel like just giving up. I’ve been there. Sometimes we feel like giving up on our loved ones, our hopes and dreams, our jobs, our goals, ourselves. However, giving up is never an option. Think of everything you’ve been through. All the hurt, the pain, the suffering, the shame, and ask yourself; was it a waste of time. Hell no, because you survived. You survived things that killed lesser men. You survived trauma that crippled others mentally for life. You survived the bad relationships, the money problems, the bill collectors, the crazy family, your jacked up job, the broke down car, and your own crazy antics.

Superman doesn’t have “nuthin” on a strong black woman with a will to survive!

You have raised your own children and Master’s children too. You have cooked for your family and others. Cleaned your house and maintained another’s house. You have worked 3 jobs and put all your kids through college while scrubbing floors, making beds, changing sheets and emptying bed pans. You have gone back to school years later and graduated at the top of your class. You have nurtured another man’s dream whether it was your husband or your pastor. You pushed him through the hard times with prayer, devotion, financial support, and hard work. You hunt for the food within some tribes in Africa while your men sit and chat all day. You are the backbone of this civilization. I dare women of color to just stop and give up and see what ruins this world would be in. As midwives you allowed other women to sit on your lap and push their children through into this world. You’ve breastfeed other women’s infants, held, and cuddled, children that would grow up later to call you nigger. You were raped, spit upon, abandoned and mutilated but you survived!

If you were going to give up, you would have given up when they hung your husbands, sons, and fathers from a tree. You would have given up when they shot and stabbed your babies in the street. You would have given up when he left you with 6 children.

Giving up is not an option for the woman who has already overcome tremendous odds.
The next time you feel like just giving up look within yourself and find the strength of your ancestors and remember that:

· Slavery couldn’t keep you down
· Abandonment didn’t cripple you
· Addiction didn’t destroy you
· Abuse didn’t kill you

Giving up is not an option for the mother of all civilization and the survivor of it all.