"Never Hate, Always Smile, Give a lot, Expect a Little." Interesting rules to live by. Got that from the twitter world this morning. Makes sense to me. As I have come across alot of people in my life I have definitely learned alot of lessons. However, this week has reminded me of a few hard lessons I had to learn when I was younger. So here's a shout out to all the people who taught me things that I never wanted to learn, but in actuality glad I did.
1. Thanks Shon. If it wasn't for you I would still be putting my expectations on other people. I remember you used to get me so pissed. I remember the night we almost got into a fight after the meeting. I remember when Jai threatened to slash your tires lol. He was DEAD serious. You were the most arrogant, selfish person i had EVER met. Without you however I never would have learned that sometimes people don't change no matter how much you wish they would act right. Sometimes you have to change yourself in order to deal with the situation properly. If not you can easily find yourself being dominated by the situation. I found it's much easier to change yourself than wait on someone else.
2. Thank you Jessica. Without you I wouldn't have learned an important lesson about relationships. Never fall for someone who is in love with someone else. Now this one was rough. I guess if i would have listened to Jason(RIP) I could have avoided that whole situation. Sometimes it's nice to have that voice that tells you... "hey man, your an idiot". I miss you Jason. I thought what we had was soooo real. And it was......to me. Once again you have to see the situation for what it is. Not what you want it to be. It doesn't matter how much chemistry you have, the feelings, even the somatic attraction, sometimes it truly is what it is: A competition that you have no controll over. Till this day that was the worst phone call EVER. Oh yeah and you also taught me it's ok to not be friends. That was a turning point.
3. Thank you Elijah Dukes. That's right good old dad. You said something to me years ago like back in 2005 that I just understood a couple of days ago. "You've been to bethel." I have grown to hate that phrase over the years. I had a conversation with a brother the other day about the organization and he said something that truly disturbed me. I can't go into details becuase of obvious privacy reasons. But i thought to myself for the first time, I've been to Bethel I've seen it. I know it's true and I know better. I guess at that moment it kind of clicked. All the experience I gained, all the people i met, all of the spiritual gems i took in all the life lessons that place taught me. I have no excuses. I know better, so I must do better.
4. Hanz/Gooch/Lee/Rachel.... and others. These people taught me what true friendship really means. These people continually exceed my expectations. I don't think it's any secret that the past two years of my life have been less than stellar. Without you guys and gals i'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to survive it. I can talk to you about anything. There is an honesty that only exists with you guys. No time is too late, no time is too early. Not only did you teach me what a true friend is, but you also taught me how to be a true friend. Now, I don't have to settle for less. For that lesson, I thank you.
Love you all,
Dukes
Since I don't know the back stories to any of these things, I can't comment on much, but I at least wanted to say WAY TO OPEN UP. It sounds like you've had some turning points and know who to thank for them, good or bad. Sometimes it's the bad times that really teach us our life lessons!
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