God is good……!
I came to this country back in January of 1979. I had only 173 dollars in my pocket after all travel expenses. I knew not a soul here in the states. I had two pair of work pants and shoes, one shirt and a dress suit wore every Saturday to worship the Lord. You see I am a Seventh Day Adventist and have very strict spiritual and moral values….and it is ONLY those values that were taught to me by my Elders (May their souls rest in peace!) that has brought me through many rough times.
Again I will say it shamelessly, God is GOOD!
I had not much at all when I arrived to America but a dream to succeed. To sacrifice. To work hard. To edify the God I serve. I never once expected when I came here for anyone to give me a hand out or a free ride to my goals. All I ever prayed for was the health and strength to pursue my goal and the presence of mind to always realize right from wrong. And I must say, God has answered my prayers many times over!
Hallelujah!
I am very healthy with a wonderful, faithful, loyal God fearing Wife and two very obedient sons who desire to continue our thriving family landscaping business when I retire soon. I have a lot to be thankful for and plenty of experience to pass on to my youngsters.
One thing that I have recently come to realize is how the American born Blacks are damaged more so than foreign born Blacks are as far as their psyche. It took me a lifetime to really understand and it has allowed me to have compassion on those who have suffered greatly at the epicenter of the Black Holocaust. I remember back home in Trinidad and Tobago before I came up, I was warned about how lazy and worthless Black Americans were. I have to admit that I believed what they said. But now I know what has happened to them firsthand after living so many years along side them here in the states and what makes many behave in the manner in which they do.
You see, I grew up with national pride and the feeling of truly belonging to my own country. Although it was poor, it was ours. We had that great pride. In America, that feeling is absent in people of color. Blacks here are made to feel like outsiders and outcasts. It’s a shame….they have given so much and have nothing to show for it yet they are blamed for their own condition after being used up by this country. It took a natural catastrophe in Hurricane Katrina for the world to see what we always knew in the Black world….how we are treated as second class citizens. I understand the frustration and resentment now. I even understand now why they felt so much anger toward me when I felt I never did anything TO them personally.
I now know that my white boss promoted me fast and rubbed it in the face of those who were there for years behind my back. You see, these wicked bosses understood the divide between foreign Blacks and American Blacks and played into it. They did this to divide and conquer. The knew how powerful we could be in Godly unity and divine love if we truly embraced our selves as Black people regardless of the different cultures we have shared.
So as I tell my sons today that although we may be from different countries from the American born Blacks, we are ALL the same! The only difference is that those demonic slave ships dropped us off on different shores which allowed us to be so different in language and culture. We are the same. And when we all realize this we will be able to hold hands together in worship after suffering the worst travesty in recorded modern history and shout out to the Heavens in Love, Peace and Joy…:
GOD IS GOOD!!!!
……An introspective and very thankful Cecil Wright, 57, who legally immigrated from Pigeon Point Tobago in 1979 to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida….reflects on the deep lessons of understanding and tolerance for one another as learned in his colorful and blessed life.