Originally published 3.4.09
by Guest Blogger Deric Muhammad
There is a very powerful Bible scripture that says, “He who exalts himself will be humbled; yet he who humbles himself, God shall exalt.†It is an awesome formula for success that, too often, escapes the Black community and its leadership.
When God created man the first thing that he gave him was power. He gave him power over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air and every creeping thing that crawled. At an appointed time, the agents of Satan stripped man of that power, emptying him of his sense of dignity, self respect and self worth. Three hundred years of slavery took an axe to the Black man’s ego.
Most of our egos are so bruised that we delight in making others appear insignificant so that we might bolster our own significance in the eyes of others. This is the nature of what is called gossip. Young people call it “hating.†When you feel that you have to marginalize others in order to lionize yourself you may very well be sick with “ego pneumoniaâ€.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan states in his book A Torchlight for America, “When the desire for self-interest becomes excessive, the first casualty is truth. When a man is ego-sick it is difficult for him to make sound decisions that are in the best interest of the masses. This is because he is more concerned about how he is perceived by the people than he is about the condition of the people.
As young Black males many of us were told that we wouldn’t amount to much. Some may have been bullied, buck-toothed or ashamed of our dark skin.
Unfortunately, once we were older and given some form of authority we abused that authority. We talk down to others in order to assuage the ego that was bruised by the bully. We seek material things that feed the ego and make us feel that we are better than our fellow brother or sister. Some of us even strike our women in an effort to feed that damnable ego.
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