I make it a priority to stay busy. In fact, these days I no longer HAVE to make it a priority, it comes naturally. I am always reading, always knitting, working my 9-5 and there is no shortage of things to do, including getting rest and meditation time in there.

The Black men you are referring to, I see them outside too- doing nothing but wickedness-- not as much though since we've moved but it was always just so sad and one of them actually refused a newsletter my husband and I printed out about cleaning up the neighborhood- and I know why he refused. A bad neighborhood full of drugs and hopelessness but a lot of churches is easy income for nefarious beings.

I'm not going to come down too hard on these dudes only because after speaking to a few of them, I find some are quite nice and very hurt. They come from bad backgrounds or made mistakes that they are paying for forever and many times that leaves a stain on their credibility for valuable jobs in the future. It's definitely a continuous cycle of systemic oppression AND the continuous shifting towards laziness. A lot of factors at play here. Thank you so much for highlighting this in your article though to remind us to stay busy and productive.