Social Media and Cowardice
If you really believe in what you have to say about a person, then why use social media to communicate a message to him or her, especially if you have the person’s home address, email address, and/or telephone number? Because many people lack the courage to confront people directly, social media becomes vehicles for articulating their messages. What’s disconcerting about this increasing phenomenon is more people believe that Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and etc. are the proper mediums to solve conflicts. Why not just pick up a telephone? One has to wonder, however, if people just enjoy resolving conflicts through public spaces like Facebook and Twitter to attract more attention to themselves. When you think about it, resolving conflicts at someone’s home, through email, and/or over the telephone is too private for those who desire to find any way possible to get more attention drawn to themselves.
Now, if you have already directly addressed your problems with someone and that person does not try to work with you to solve those problems, then it may be appropriate to express how you feel in general about a problem you have with someone in an indirect manner to keep you from fighting the person. If you have an established reputation of letting people know in their faces (without any hesitation) how you feel about an issue or problem when one arises, then it may be appropriate to make an indirect comment on Facebook or Twitter about the problem or issue.
Cowardice occurs through social media when a person never has addressed his or her problems with someone directly.
Some people think you’re not smart enough to know when they’re sending subliminal messages to you. They think they’re getting over on you and affecting you. However, what they don’t understand is the reason that you’ve not responded to them directly and/or punched them in the mouth is you see them as lightweights, are trying to not destroy their world for their sake and their family’s sake, and/or wish not to cause a major scene.
When people always have to promulgate indirect messages, you can tell they’re struggling with deep insecurities and self-esteem problems. Why else would they always express themselves through indirect messages?
In the time you invested in composing an indirect message, you could have already communicated a direct message by picking up a telephone? Why waste time? Go ahead and be honest—it’s not really about the indirect message you’re attempting to send to someone, but it’s more about you needing to deal with things you’re stowing on the inside of you that need to be eliminated.
You have to be careful about communicating indirect messages to someone through social media because that person could respond with a direct message to you that could surely shake up your world forever.
For every move there is a counter.
Don’t let your weak indirect messages end up causing you a lifetime of misery. You have to resolve how much you’re willing to lose when you publish tweets, statuses, and posts.
Don’t be a coward—say what you have to say to someone directly to him or her!
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Too Wired?
Although all of the fascinating marvels of technology have us often spellbound, we need to take some time to reflect critically about how much mental energy we consume while using sundry technologies. Many people say that they take breaks from their work by playing with their fancy cell phones and logging on to Facebook, but they really don’t think about how they are not giving their minds a chance to rest. With such a wide range of technologies available to us in the postmodern epoch, we need to give ourselves meaningful breaks away from these technologies each day.
Some people find it difficult to go ten minutes without looking at using their cell phones. While you may say that it’s not a big deal to spend a significant amount of time using various technological devices, this can begin to take a toll on your health over time. Whether you realize it or not, the human brain needs rest. Even when many people are sleeping and about to go to sleep, they have their televisions on and/or have laptops in bed with them.
Are you ever unplugged from technology for a meaningful period of time to rest your brain?
Many people will come home from a strenuous day of work to sign on to their Facebook and Twitter pages, but they do not think about how much mental energy they are investing in their activities on Facebook and Twitter. With all of the things that you do and can do on Facebook and Twitter, you can add additional stress to your brain by staying on social media sites for a long period of time each day after you end your work day.
Don’t allow our intriguing technologies to amplify the stress you already have. Of course, you may think that Facebook and Twitter are social media sites that do not have any stress attached to them. However, there is often so much drama on Facebook and Twitter and things that can upset you on those sites that you will find that you are even more stressed after logging on them than when you left work.
Take a moment to think about whether or not you waste too much time using various technologies each day. Is your cell phone so interesting that it causes you to neglect your responsibilities? It’s really not good for your health to have your cell phone up to your ear for long periods of time each day. Consider taking a break from some technological devices you engage with for a day and see if you are able to manage without these devices.
While social media sites have become widely popular, many people employ these sites to create false identities and to start unwarranted wars with other people. When you feel like those are the primary reasons you’re using technology, then it’s time for you to step away from technology for at least a short period of time and refocus your energy. You have to think about how trying to maintain false identities and fight wars through social media sites is not good for your health over time.
Are you too connected to technology?
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Don’t Forget to Have Fun
Although many people across America have a significant amount of daily responsibilities, you must find some time to have fun. Don’t get so busy that you forget that you have a life outside of those things that have you so busy and involved. Make time each day to engage with something that’s totally unrelated to your daily responsibilities to just have fun—even if it’s just for a brief moment. You will be amazed at what just a brief moment of fun each day can do for you to release some of the stress that accompanies being very busy. While one can understand that the things that have you very busy can be things that you enjoy and allow you to have fun, you need to take some separate time away from those things to devote completely to having fun.
Some people have not allowed themselves to experience the fullness that life has to offer. It’s okay to be adventurous sometimes. Go out and experience life. Do something that you’ve never done before. Don’t get so consumed by your routine that you think that you’re truly living a full life through your routine. You can be a serious and professional person and still have a significant amount of fun.
Never take yourself too seriously.
You don’t have to pretend to have fun. Do you know people who will sit up and create lies about things they supposedly have done and/or are doing to make you think they are having fun? Even when some people have told you that they did not have fun doing something, they will post messages on Facebook and Twitter about how they had and/or are having fun. Why lie about something like this? It seems that there are some deeper problems and challenges that people are struggling with that will cause them to resort to telling lies about something like this.
Although it’s vital to find time to have fun, you must understand that you shouldn’t dedicate so much of your time to having fun that you don’t take care of serious responsibilities. For example, you should not spend so much of your money having fun that you end up not having enough money to pay your rent or car note. Be responsible about how you have fun. Some people are always having fun and not doing the important things that they should be doing.
Just because you devote most of your time to having fun does not mean that your life is any better than the person who is only able to invest a more modest amount of time to having fun. Many people use Facebook to post pictures and location notifications to try to present themselves as people who are “living the life”—when in actuality they are not as happy and not as financially stable as they are attempting to advertise. Now, in no way does the previous statement try to suggest that all people who post pictures and location notifications about the places they go to and the things they do are posturing—the previous statement just offers an assertion that many people are guilty of doing this.
You can live a fun and responsible life. If you’re living a fun and responsible life, continue to enjoy your life. If you’re not living a fun and responsible life, do yourself a favor by starting to live a fun and responsible life.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Read and Follow Everyday Street Bible
My best friend, Santresa L. Glass, and I have created a new project, Everyday Street Bible, which is a blog we use to offer practical and real-world commentary about Christianity, mundane life realities, controversial social, political, and cultural issues, challenges, and problems, and so much more. The site is located at http://everydaystreetbible.blogspot.com. I encourage you to become a follower of the site. We let you know how two real Christians live a real life in this real world. We truly keep it real.
On the site, we have and will continue to address most of the things that your pastors won’t dare address, but things you need to have some guidance about, considering you don’t spend every day in church. Santresa and I understand that every day is not Sunday. We know that you’re going to confront many challenges and problems that are not discussed in your church. Our site, Everyday Street Bible, is committed to filling the gaps on many issues that preachers across the nation don’t want to address.
Santresa recently composed Sensitive Mean People and I penned Black Megachurch Preachers and Teenage Pregnancy for our site. Be sure to check those two pieces out and leave a comment on both pieces to let us know what you think. Show your support by reading and leaving a comment.
Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/thestreetbible and “Like” Everyday Street Bible on Facebook. Santresa and I will greatly appreciate your support.
Thank you in advance,
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Act Like You Have Children
Too many adults who have children behave in very immature ways that do not set a positive example for their children. The level of maturity of many of these adults with children makes it difficult to believe they actually have children. The reality is, however, almost anyone can have a child, but it takes committed, mature, and selfless people to be quality parents. One would think that once people have reached adulthood they would evince the normative maturity indicative of adulthood. Unfortunately, too many adults still do many of the same immature things they did as children in elementary, middle, and high school. Sometimes one has to wonder why God would even allow immature people to bring precious new life into the world, especially when these immature people are going to be responsible for taking care of precious new life.
When you make the decision to have children, you need to understand that your immaturity should end with the discovery that you will now be a new parent. If you knew you weren’t ready for children, then you shouldn’t have had unprotected sex. It’s not like you didn’t know unprotected sex leads to pregnancy.
Women, when you decide to have a baby with a man who you know is no good, then you should be ready to suffer the consequences of having to rear the baby alone. Before you start promulgating all of your frustrations about the challenges of rearing a child as a single mother, think about the foolish decision you made to have a baby with a man you knew was no good before he even inserted his penis in you. You should have never been under any illusions that having a baby with a no good man was going to change how he acts—no matter what he told you before and/or while you were having the sexual encounter that led to you becoming pregnant.
Men, don’t have babies that you know that you don’t want. Don’t have babies with women just to attempt to prove your masculinity or hypermasculinity. One would like to think that bringing a child into the world would cause you to change the way that you act and think. It would be nice to see you become a much more responsible person when you have a child. However, many of you continue to allow your own selfish priorities to take precedent over the more important responsibilities that accompany the arrival of your child into the world. Grow up fast!
If you want to be a real mother and father to your children, you must make a conscious choice to become more mature. The last thing a new baby needs to be greeted with when arriving out of his or her mother’s womb is immature parents. Now, you would think that a woman who has carried a child in her womb for nine months would act mature for her child, but many women don’t even begin to change their immature behavior while they are pregnant and after they have given birth.
When you are the mother of a child, you shouldn’t be on Facebook trying to start fights with people. You should not be spending more time on Facebook than you do rearing your child. Your Facebook statuses should not be bringing shame to your child. It would seem that you would think about how you are presenting yourself as a woman when you are using social media. The way in which you present yourself on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media vehicles can be significantly harmful to your ability to secure employment or advance in your career. You never know who may view what you have said and/or posted on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites.
If you are Facebook friends with your parents, you ought to have enough respect for your parents to conduct yourself in a way that demonstrates good character, maturity, and a sense that you have good values.
If you made a mistake and had a baby with one man that you already knew was no good before you had the baby with him, then it’s just stupid to go and have a second, third, fourth, and so on with more no good men and/or the same no good man you had your first child with who has not changed at all.
Although it can be quite unsettling, unnerving, and may even temporarily unhouse you, you need to engage in some deep self-evaluations about why you’re not acting like the responsible adult you should be for your children. Don’t try to pretend like you’re happy when you know you’re not. Try to get to the root of what prevents you from being truly happy. If you know that much of your immaturity stems from low self-esteem, then you need to seek the help you know you need to boost your self-esteem. However, boosting your self-esteem does not mean getting on Facebook and other social media sites and distracting yourself from the deep internal and external problems you’re experiencing.
If you’re not willing to change for the better for yourself, please change for the benefit of your children. Your children deserve for you to be at your best. Be responsible. Be thoughtful. Be selfless. Be mature.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Exploring the Popular Use of “Don’t Judge Me”
“Don’t judge me” is increasingly becoming a popular and pervasive statement, especially among the 16 year old – 35 year old crowd. I’m not against people judging me or anyone else. However, you must be qualified to judge others. You should not be really serious about your use of “don’t judge me.” While I think that it’s quite entertaining when I see “don’t judge me” used on Twitter and Facebook, you really should not be too concerned about what people say about you. I’m not, however, saying that you should not totally overlook what people say about you and that you should not respond to some things people say about you. You should not overlook some things people say about you and you should respond to some things people say about you. However, I want to devote my dominant attention to my argument that you must be qualified to be an effective judge.
We cannot stop people from judging others and we should not try to prevent people from judging others. What I would like for those who are committed to judging others is for them to be qualified about the things and aspects of people they judge. For example, so many true and supposedly heterosexual people are quick to make a determination about whether a man is gay. They will look at surface level things and rush to a quick judgment and call him gay. As a deep and committed intellectual, I’m bother by how so many people will make a sweeping conclusion about someone’s sexual orientation and/or identity by just observing him in such a short amount of time. Every man does not have a deep voice. Every man does not and has no desire to “bust slack.” Every man does not and cannot walk in a way that’s predominantly perceived by society as a “heterosexual way of walking.”
By the way, is there some class available that heterosexual men or women teach that men who want to learn how to walk like the typical heterosexual man can attend to learn this style of walking? If so, I would like for you to let me know so that I can tell the people who are not committed to simply being themselves where they can attend this class. Thanks in advance.
Some people even get a thrill out of being able to “detect” when a man is gay. If the man does not reveal to you that he’s gay, then what makes your determination that he’s gay an intelligent judgment? I’m not suggesting that you have to be gay to determine whether a man is gay, but your conclusions should not be based on the most inane surface level things that you see and hear. What prevents you from mustering the courage to personally ask the man if he’s gay? Always do this in an appropriate way because the method you elect to ask him can amount to nothing more than an attack, even if this was not your true intent. If you are truly serious about being an effective judge, then why won’t you do the work that’s necessary to truly get to the bottom of your claims? It amuses me sometimes and flummoxes at other times how someone can hear and/or see things out of context and then immediately arrive at a conclusion that someone is gay.
Always put things in their proper contexts.
People make judgments about myriad phenomena besides sexual orientation. I selected to use sexual orientation as my primary example because sexual orientation is a phenomenon people often make swift judgments about without any critical thought. Another example I could have focused on at length is about how people make judgments about others being smart. People who are not smart are hasty to tell others that they are smart. While their determinations may be true, what are the values and principles they employ for making their claims? Do they even have any values and principles? I could continue on and on with examples.
If you’re going to judge people, then make as strong of an effort as possible to ground your judgments in truth. Try to avoid making judgments about things you have limited or no knowledge about. Be real with yourself too and don’t try to pretend that you know everything. If you want to be a qualified judge, then you need to focus on substantive things when you make your judgments. While I certainly don’t have a problem with people judging others, I just don’t want you to end up looking like a fool because you focused on the wrong things and your conclusions materialize to be completely wrong.
Don’t be a fool. Make informed, substantive, and wise judgments.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Celebrating Osama Bin Laden’s Death Isn’t Characteristic of “Small Minds”
In the immediate moments after President Obama promulgated that our great military killed Osama Bin Laden, people across the nation started celebrating in the streets, at bars, through social media, and etc. The majority of the American people are proud that the American military killed Osama Bin Laden, according to the majority of scientific polls. Most scientific polls show that at least 85% of the American people agree with President Obama’s decision to kill Osama Bin Laden. Most Americans agree that Osama Bin Laden was an evil man who orchestrated the tragic and abhorrent attacks on our nation on September 11, 2001.
All Americans are not proud and in a celebratory mood about Osama Bin Laden being brought to justice, however. On Facebook and Twitter, I had an opportunity to witness some great disrespect for the brave men and women who serve in uniform. Although I do everything within my power to respond to attacks on our military, Americans have the freedom to attack those who service in uniform. The courageous men and women in uniform have fought and died for the right of all Americans to enjoy the freedom of speech, which is one of the bedrock principles of America.
One University of Wisconsin-Madison female law student argued on Facebook that people who celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden have “small minds.” The following is one comment that she made: “while it may be a ‘happy moment,’ it is hardly an occasion for public celebration. Small minds celebrate the death of Bin Laden, while greater minds can see beyond that. What saddens me is knowing that we have come to a point, as human beings, where we feel comfortable putting our humanity aside to celebrate a man’s death (even if our enemy). Too bad we’re not better than that…” She kept arguing that all people celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden have small minds. This young woman is, therefore, calling me a “small mind” when she is not even qualified to tote water for me or hold my jockstrap. She would never directly address me because she knows she’s an intellectual lightweight and I’m an intellectual heavyweight.
On Facebook and Twitter, there were the usual people on there saying ridiculous stuff and attacking our troops, and they were contending that we should not be happy about this moment and should not be celebrating Osama Bin Laden’s death. On Twitter, I observed some people on the Left challenging how contradictory and wrong it is for Americans to be celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden.
I would just like to say that people don’t have small minds just because they celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden. Many Americans lost family members and friends on September 11, 2011 because of what this evil man orchestrated. I guess some people will continue to think that the victims’ family and friends have small minds because they celebrate Bin Laden’s death.
Bin Laden was successful in disrupting and altering crucial aspects of the American way of life. We have lost numerous lives because of this man. He has had a tremendously negative impact on our economy. Americans have a right to feel angry with this man. A way for us to express our anger and to appreciate the successful mission of our troops is to celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden. Osama Bin Laden’s death symbolizes much more than the death of a single man, but the death of the man responsible for beginning this War on Terrorism.
It’s too unfortunate that some skinny and long neck female law student at University of Wisconsin-Madison and others would think that people like me who celebrate Osama Bin Laden’s death have small minds. Those who have small minds are not open to opposing positions from the ones they hold. If you ever want to be successful, you are going to have to be willing to be open to engaging the viewpoints of others without trying to attack them for having viewpoints that differ from your own.
If passionately celebrating Osama Bin Laden’s death means I have a small mind, then I’m proud to have a small mind because the killing of this evil man is an outstanding achievement for America’s national security interests. I support our military and congratulate the men and women who serve in uniform for doing a stellar job of defending our nation and protecting our liberties.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
End One-Way Street Relationships
I hate to be the one to tell you but you’re not going to be able to fool people forever. A person does not have to be the most intellectually sophisticated individual to recognize a pattern of being used by you. People will eventually recognize when you only communicate with them when you want something from them. Folks will start to notice that you only respond back to their text messages, Facebook messages, tweets, emails, and phone calls when you want something. In due time, people will see that you make everything about yourself. Many people who like to try to get over on people will only be upbeat around them when they are planning to ask them to do something for them.
It’s amazing how people will become your best friend when they want you to give them money and/or sex. It’s just a harsh reality that some people will be in your life just for what they can get out of you and from you. Now, I’ve written about these people who try to use you in Don’t Be A Leech!, and told you that you have to get rid of people who don’t value you in Spring Clean, but we need to explore why we continue to maintain relationships with people who just use us.
What is it about us that allows us to maintain relationships with people who use us? For the purposes of this article, when I refer to the word “relationships,” I mean relationships of all types, including friendships, marriages, intimate relationships, family relationships, business relationships, and etc. One of the dominant reasons why many of us, in my opinion, continue to maintain relationships with people who just use us is we are just selfless. This selflessness, however, can lead us to blindness for a certain period of time. The blindness that we experience for a certain period of time can cause us to intentionally or unintentionally overlook deliberate attempts by people to use us.
There’s a clear difference between people receiving from you because they are in need of your help, but that’s completely different from people who just are taking advantage of your selflessness and willingness to help them because they know the vulnerabilities of your selflessness.
When you are selflessly giving to people, make sure that you get something in return from them—that something can be as simple as a “thank you” or acts and/or words that evince gratitude.
Lately, I’ve witnessed how I will do substantial things for people and will not even receive any responses from them, not even responses that tell me “thank you” or that they received what I sent them. Some people seem to think that it’s my job to help them, and when I try to see if they received what I’ve sent them, I will not even get a reply from them via text message, email and/or telephone. Now, I want you to bear in mind that many of the substantial things that I have done for them involved me staying up all night to complete. I very much appreciate these people for giving me an education that I could have never obtained through my undergraduate and graduate training.
What I’ve learned is that you cannot allow yourself to become a blind giver. You have to be a wise giver. When you allow yourself to become a reckless giver, you open yourself to allowing others to exploit you. I’ve learned from those who have used me that you have to do a simple evaluation of everyone who you help. If these people are not giving you at least a sincere “thank you” in return for what you do for them, then please disassociate yourself from them. You don’t have to have a major altercation with them. All you need to do is don’t answer their phone calls, text messages, emails, and etc.—much in the same way that they have done to you for certain periods of time until they needed something else from you.
Don’t you just love when people try to act like they didn’t get your text message, Facebook message, direct message on Twitter, phone call, and/or email, but you see that they have tweeted several times since you contacted them and/or have updated their Facebook status after you have contacted them?
I urge you to discontinue relationships with people where they are just using you. These types of relationships simply bring you down inevitably. Don’t let your great selflessness turn into unintentional or intentional blindness. When people fail to demonstrate how appreciative they are of you when you clearly deserve appreciation, then remove these people from your life. At the end of the day, you cannot let your selflessness turn into stupidity.
For those readers who know me and you think this article is addressing you, it probably is. If I don’t tell you first, just ask me and I will let you know. I don’t do third person—never have and never will. When have you known me to hold back anything that I have to say to you and/or about you? Exactly!
Love responsibly. Give responsibly. Help responsibly. Be responsible.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Using Social Media to Defeat Enemies of HBCUs
It’s time out for people who graduated from, attend, work for, and/or support historically Black college and universities (HBCUs) to continue to stay on defense about the significant value of HBCUs. We need to get on offense. Yes, defense is important because it is the side of the ball where a team prevents the other team from scoring points, but you cannot win without scoring points. Of course, great defensive efforts can lead to the scoring of points but those defensive efforts must be converted into offense. This is how it goes in basketball and football and this is how it goes when it comes to winning the war being waged against our beloved HBCUs.
We’ve been on defense far too long and we’ve not converted our defense into offense, meaning we are not scoring any points against our opponents, those who try to dismantle, devalue, and/or undermine HBCUs. We already know that most of the enemies of HBCUs are White. These are not just any White people either—these are racist, elitist, classist, and/or prejudiced White people. Therefore, just don’t look at any White person and assume that he or she is an enemy of HBCUs. You have to evaluate words and actions of people to resolve whether or not they are enemies of HBCUs. Don’t just think that the enemies of HBCUs are all White—many Blacks are some of the greatest enemies of HBCUs.
You may be thinking that the only Black enemies of HBCUs have to be those “nefarious Black conservatives.” Unfortunately, many of the nefarious Black enemies of HBCUs are those who attend or have attended one of these institutions or work for or have worked for one of these institutions. Now, these previously mentioned Black enemies of HBCUs represent a tremendously small percentage of the enemies of HBCUs, but their power can be just as damaging as White enemies of HBCUs—possibly even more injurious.
Instead of letting misinformation, unmerited negative criticism, blatant lies, unfair characterizations, belittling viewpoints, and etc. continue to have a significant impact, Black people and non-Blacks who support HBCUs need to use the power of social media to saturate the internet with true information and responses to misinformation about HBCUs and offer positive messages about HBCUs. If you only know information about the specific HBCUs you attend/or graduated from, then just talk about your specific HBCU through social media. Use your Facebook status and the “Note” function to periodically say something positive about HBCUs. Use Twitter to occasionally say something positive about HBCUs. Make YouTube videos that present HBCUs in a positive light. Bloggers should pen pieces that communicate positive academic, social, and professional student experiences at HBCUs. For those who don’t blog, get a free blog at WordPress (http://wordpress.com) or Blogger (http://blogger.com) and compose positive pieces about HBCUs—they don’t have to be long pieces either.
Again, the goal is to saturate the internet with positive information and messages about HBCUs. Now, I see many Black people engaging in all kinds of foolishness through social media. Take a little time to devote to supporting HBCUs through social media. We must focus on making it clear that HBCUs offer great academic value and experiences. The internet needs to be filled with great success stories of those who have graduate from HBCUs.
Although I’m not attempting to present the ideas in this article as panaceas to the problems HBCUs confront, the ideas in this piece are practical ways to help us advance, defend, ameliorate, and support HBCUs. Black people have the power to use social media to form a potent collective to market HBCUs in the way they deserve to be marketed.
Please take at least a small amount of the time you spend using social media to devote to uplifting, improving, advancing, and supporting HBCUs. We are strongest when we are united!
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Rootlessness is the Source of Randomness
Rootlessness means lacking foundation and purpose. People who embrace randomness are increasingly becoming more popular across the nation. It seems the nation has a fascination with the random things that people do. A growing number of people are consuming much more of their time with doing random things. Even on Twitter, you will see many people type #random for a thought (or utterance) that comes out of nowhere and/or that makes absolutely no sense. Because many people refuse to stay focused for even two minutes during a conversation, they will say, “I know this is random but…” They don’t want to sit still long enough to continue a coherent conversation. They have so many random things that they want to say that they don’t make it possible to have a coherent conversation. When you have a conversation with someone who embraces randomness, you better be prepared for the conversation to take all kinds of unexpected twists and incoherent transitions.
Many people enjoy randomness so much that their enjoyment of randomness renders them fundamentally useless. It seems like many people consume most of each day doing random things and living random lives. Have you ever just stopped and asked yourself why do people love randomness? These people suffer from rootlessness. They have failed to establish a strong foundation for themselves and have not identified their true purpose in life. If you consume most of your day with trivial things, then you suffer from rootlessness. A rootless person is a dangerous person. Rootless people have the capability of doing anything without notice, including things that can cause others around them to die. When you are truly rootless, you are unstable.
I know rootless graduate and professional school students who should be spending more time with conducting research in their fields, but will elect to devote a significant amount of their time to trying to come up with random outfits that are going to catch people’s attention. These graduate and professional students will spend a great amount of time on putting things on Facebook and Twitter just to get attention. The stuff that they post on Facebook and Twitter never has any substance—it’s just stuff that they know will get a reaction from the people who see it. To invest such a considerable amount of time on inconsequential stuff like this is a problem. You may say, “Antonio, you are making more of this than it really is,” but I want you to know that many people are wasting lots of their time on doing random things.
I wish that those who get a significant amount of attention for having a true commitment to being random would not receive so much attention from those of us who know we should not be entertaining their randomness. When people who are embracing randomness reveal their ignorance, we should not simply laugh at them—we need to tell them that they are being stupid. We need to ask them what’s ailing them. If we really care about them or just care about people in general, we need to help them to work through their rootlessness. Let’s help people to understand the how and the why behind their randomness. Many people who love randomness may not really understand why it is that they do what they do. You can make a true difference in a person’s life by simply asking him or her to think critically about why he or she does the things that he or she does.
When an adult constantly does random things every day, there’s something wrong with this adult. Doing random things every day evinces a person’s immaturity. Start to challenge adults who love to be random to replace their randomness with substance. Don’t simply stand by and let people waste their lives being fools. I want you to understand that people who are regularly random are people who suffer from rootlessness. They need someone to care for them. They need someone to help them to develop a foundation and a purpose. Be that person that they need to change their lives for the better.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
