A Step Forward; A Step Back

This semester has been difficult. During the summer, I started a new job that is both physically demanding and mentally debilitating. My night begins at 5:30 p. m. and the shift is not over until the job is complete. The supervisors lack communication and organizational skills, and the behavior of the employees is exactly what you would expect to find on any street corner of urban communities throughout the city. The lack of structure, discipline, and the wavering schedule have all affected my performance this semester. I frantically struggle to keep up with class assignments, and have little time to study and properly prepare for exams. As a result, I have incorporated different techniques to help me stay awake during lectures and maintain focus while taking exams. For example, I take a walk outside between classes in hopes that the fresh air will revive my senses. I drink a cold Dr. Pepper before the start of each class for a quick caffeine boost. And, before exams, I stroll the halls silently meditating on key terms and conceptional principles that may determine success or failure on an exam. Meditation is crucial for me. It allows me to step away from all distractions and enter into a transient state of solitude.
On Tuesday, I found myself struggling more than usual. Class was dismissed fifteen minutes early, which gave me a twenty-five minute break before transitioning from English to Hebrew. "Proverbs" says that "an idle mind is the devil's playground," and he was at his best on this occasion. "Go home! You can miss this class. You need a nap. You need to be refreshed. You deserve a break." While wrestling with these thoughts, my solitude was interrupted by an African-American woman questioning the intense look on my face. "You seem to be in very deep thought," she said. "Whatever it is, don't take it so seriously," she added. "It's been a long week," I replied. "I wish that I could go home and take a well deserved nap." "You can," she replied in a whispering voice. "Haven't you heard? Obama is President." "I know," I responded. "And, that is precisely why I cannot go home. Obama's election does not provide for me an excuse but an incentive to succeed in spite of any opposition."
It appears that many African-Americans have received the wrong message from Barack Obama's election. While America seems to have taken a step forward, some African-Americans have taken a step back. Some have adopted the mentality that America is now ours and we can do whatever we choose. Some have adopted the hubristic attitude of self-exaltation and now believe that we are the superior race. Some see this occasion in history as an opportunity to be rebellious deviants rather than constructive members of society. Everywhere I look, I see new behaviors and attitudes that are detrimental to the history of this election season. African-American women are dressed like whores on the Internet in outfits designed to resemble the American flag. Drug dealers are selling crack in the community while wearing shirts that say "Yes We Can." African-American students are involved in brawls on college campuses because they feel untouchable. And, a woman insinuated to me that I could miss class because Obama is President.
African-Americans must see the election of Barack Obama as a challenge to be better people, and not an opportunity to proliferate ignorance. We must take this opportunity to educate our children to succeed where we have failed. We must be productive contributing members of society, and not deviants that stain this moment in our nation's history. And, as college students, we must strive to do our finest work.
The Presidential term is only four years; eight if re-elected. We must be careful not to allow the behaviors we demonstrate during Obama's Presidential term to move the African-American race backward, but propel us towards a higher level of expectancy. The world is watching America to see how our nation will respond to the first African-American President. And, my fellow African-Americans, America is watching us.

Time and Knowledge are too valuable to be taken for granted. We have wasted enough time in our despondent states of complacency. And, we have failed to vehemently stress the importance of knowledge to this current generation. Time will not wait for the slothful; and our people are perishing from a "lack of knowledge."