What if I Lose My Victimhood; what am I going to do then?

What is going to happen the day I realize I’m accountable for my own actions, personally charged with finding my place in the community, and financially, spiritually, and morally responsible for the lives on this planet I helped create? What happens when I discover I can no longer blame others for where I am, and what I have done in my life? What happens when I realize I am not a victim of anything but my own attitude and poisoned perspectives of others? What am I going to do then?

Am I going to have to have to go back to school? Will I have to stop playing video games, smoking dope, and drinking? Will I have to cease fantasying about being a rock star, or becoming a sports legend? Am I going to have to get a job? Will it be at Acme Widgets Inc. where I will have to wake up at a decent hour in the morning and get to work on time?

Will I be treated just like everyone else and have to make the same amount of widgets per hour as Tyrone, Marissa, or Dylan? What would it look like if I went down to the nearest appliance repair shop or construction site and asked if I can learn a skill without first asking for money. What if instead, I waited until the boss had thought I had earned it and then be grateful he / she had taught me a craft?

Am I going to have to stop asking for government aid knowing I am more than capable of earning, but for one reason another I was told work was for suckers and I said — “hey, that’s not me.” What is being a constructive part of society going to look like when I have to put on my big-boy or big-girl pants?

And, if I suddenly find myself no longer able to call myself a victim, am I going to have to start taking care of the children I have helped put on this planet? Am I going to have to set a positive example to those kids? Am I going to have to put food in their mouths, teach them to read, set the example for respecting other people’s property? Will I have to model the behavior of treating people in the same way my family and I would want to be treated? What is it going to look like when I realize it takes real parents, and not a too often absent village, to raise a child?

Am I going to bite the bullet and move my family from this crime ridden neighborhood, or am I going to lead a community group inside it to stop the violence? Am I going to continue listening to media outlets and politicians who love reminding me I’m a victim of one thing or another and that the government owes me everything from milk to cell phones?

Am I going to listen to those fringe groups who say it is my skin color, my neighborhood, or my gender that is holding me back from finding success? What is it going to look like when I don’t let the “Apostrophe-T” control my life, and I move myself forward from saying “I can’t”, to “I can”. What’s it going to look like the day I look in the mirror and declare independence by proudly saying “I’ve lost my victimhood!”