I thought I would take the opportunity to write something briefly about my day of birth. This is, however, not an attempt and at promotion or some weird intellectual vanity, but a young man taking an honest inventory of himself (hopefully briefly as I have the tendency to be long winded sometimes).
On this day at 4:06pm at Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, Norma and Vernon Mitchell welcomed their first child into the world--Me! Now thirty-one years later, here I am. So where is "here" and "Who Am I"?
This birthday has been quite a reflective one as I have looked back over my brief life and thought about "What have I done?"(especially since I am now on the other side of thirty). Was Jay-Z right? is this the new twenty? I'm not so sure. I would like to think so since my generation is doing thing much later than my parents' generation did.
My sister left me a voice mail message this morning where she mentioned, "Brother it is time to start looking back ain't it? It's time for some reflection." She is so right.
As a thinker and an academic in training my mind is constantly engaged with ideas and concepts even when I don't necessary want to. Sometimes I wish I could turn my brain off to sit back and "do nothing." However, I don't think that is in my blood to holistically "do nothing."
I will say that I am especially thankful for life on this day...because I realize more and more that life is a beautiful, ugly, fragile and equally precious thing. As I woke up this morning I thought about the number of people like my paternal grandmother Rosie Mae Mitchell and one of my best friends, Brian Barton, who have transcended this existence. Both of them, and a host of others who have passed on, had a profound impact on my life. Of the two I mentioned, Brian did not see his 31st birthday as I have.
I thought about what each of them might say to me today. My grandmother would offer some sage wisdom and the love that only a grandma can give and Brian would no doubt say something that was funny as hell. I miss them both.
A friend posed the question to me today in an email, "Vernon what do you want to do this year that you didn't do last year? What do you want accomplish?"
My quick response to that question is that my goal is still the same. I hope to have challenged folk to think outside themselves and their situations to impact positive change in someone's life other than their own. While history is part of my profession, it also is an important part of my life and the circuitous path I have taken to get to where I am today. I am solely a result of previous sacrifices made by so many, and I am thankful.
I only hope that as I live my life through my own mistakes and successes, I have done their collective memory justice. Fame and fortune have not been part of my life and may never be, but if I have helped at least one person along my own short life's journey then my living will not have been in vain.
Lord willing this time next year, I'll be talking about graduation and a job...and I'll be that much more thankful as I celebrate another trip around the sun.
Peace and Respect.
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