Today I am thinking of two old wise sayings:  If you do what you always did, you’ll get what you always got is the first; the second, each one teach one. 

As Kwanzaa has passed, but the ideas and principles of Kwanzaa remain in my thoughts, I think about how sharing  is an expression of love, humanity and brotherhood. Kwanzaa is a time of sharing. It is a time for African Americans to especially focus on working together.

(Umoja) Unity, (Kujichagulia)Self Determination, (Ujima) Collective Work and Responsibility,(Ujamaa) Cooperative Economics (Nia) Purpose, (Kuumba) Creativity, (Imani) Faith

Greed and selfhishness are not part of these seven principles of Kwanzaa. Instead, Kwanzaa is a time when we may need to almost force ourselves to think in a way that is not familiar to us: think of village, a village working together. As descedants of slaves, this can almost feel instrinscially wrong, because it was not an ideal that was encouraged amongst slaves. Attitudes are hard to let go of and they are passed down from generation to generation. And, so the attitudes that were prevalent during slavery were mostly survival,personal surivival, but that strategy for survival is not conducive to the collective survival. We are no longer slaves.

The celebration of Kwanzaa has passed, for this year, but the ideals and principles of Kwanzaa have value daily. Throughout the coming year, consider changing some of those old attitudes for new ones and becoming a part of the collective to bring a new and better day to the village and to the world.