late registration

my brother left home to go to Tuskeegee this evening. he actually graduated last year, but like some students he needed a year to kind of "find himself" and think about what he really wanted to do with himself.

he didn't care about school much, just playin ball and chillin. he went to a community school, and was content with that until he saw more and more of his friends dying in the streets to gangs and guns. he said he had to get out of there.

so one day he just start doing his schoolwork, got a job, and then filled out an application to attend Tuskeegee University.

i couldn't be prouder of my brother today. he made a decision to better himself, and not to be another brother on the corner. i find it interesting/intriguing that he chose the school founded by Booker T. Washington, the great Black thinker who encouraged Black people to think and do for themselves, to 'pull oneself up from the bootstraps' and decide for themselves what they want to be. i feel as though this is a lesson my brother needed to learn. in a way it kept him going.

i IM'd him while he was in the airport today. he told me, "i'm proud of you for graduating and giving me something to follow." that meant a lot to me. my life after graduation isn't perfect and sometimes it feels like i'm not doing anything right, but it's good to know that i've done a few things right and that i can be an example to something else. it's kind of a relief and encouragement to keep going.

Here's to you, John-John. make me proud.