Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
Life can be like a prison. It is like a prison when one has to learn to jettison their idiosyncrasies to please a society of carbon copies. When everyone is a white page, then you won’t be accepted being a blue one. So, we build prisons for ourselves, learning to change the color of our personalities, like chameleons, to fit a system that runs without you in mind. And if the world is your prison, then you become an inmate, chained to the perceptions of the majority, forced to eat from the plate of their values, wondering how much time you have left. Well, this blog represents my release day today. I will speak up. I will speak out. I will share my honest opinion although it may offend others who don’t share my values. But I promise that I will do it in a respectful way. I will focus not so much on my values as reasons for my conclusions, but I want to focus on the evidence of arguments that support said values and conclusions.
I don’t want to hide who I am, so I will let you know that I am a Christian. I am an African American male, a product of Dallas Independent School Districts, the grandson of an alcoholic, the son of a life-long drug addict whose life has been defined by a dream to be a famous musician (FYI, my grandfather on my dad’s side was the alcoholic and my father is the former (?) drug addict/musician and singer. My mother is a very kind and generous woman who has known trouble all of her life. Her dad abandoned her four sisters when she was a young girl. She, my mother, raised us in a Pentecostal church in Dallas of legendary proportions, yes, the kind that speaks in tongues, where the women wear only dresses or skirts, no make-up, and the preacher frequently preaches a sinless perfectionism. Did I mention that I was as screwed up as my father and grandfather?
But I am learning to love myself. I have a cantankerous or almost recalcitrant personality that has ruined many of my relationships in my life, almost my marriage, my jobs, friends, etc. The truth is I have no friends. I go to work. I come home. Wash, rinse, repeat. I can’t connect with people. I am too concerned with abstract things that they don’t find immediately relevant. My Facebook account tells this sad story. While my friends were posting about their dinners, I wrote musings about the nature or sin, the person of Christ, the meaning of life, analyses attempting to expand my own understanding of the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator). These posts had a life span of a drone ant, dying and annoying many of my social media “friends” after seconds of life. They were too philosophical, too deep, to verbose, etc. I was frequently or often told that I should get a Blog. But what was a blog. In my mind, a blog was a place to store writing that no one would ever read. So, I’m here! Just kidding.
I’m finally taking the advice of those brave souls that read my posts to heart. This is my blog: The Thought Decoder. One of my favorite things to do in the world is to learn and share. I love to talk to people and learn about their skills and the conceptual backdrop or context in which those skills developed. I love to read and learn about instruments that allow me to better analyze people. Whether this is MBTI, DISC, or True Colors, I love them all. I want to understand myself and others. I also think that many African Americans lack knowledge of business and the way it works, so I am interested in business models and the philosophy of business. I think that economic empowerment is the path to take African Americans (and many other minorities) to the next level within American society. I love logic, the science of argumentation. I love to learn about the ways in which this system of rules of inference (deduction) allow us to think more clearly, soundly and validly. I use logic in everything. I also love to explore the existence of God , the truth of the Christian narrative, and how this relates to societal and political issues. I am a musician. My father started me on a First Act guitar when I was 14. I was a bit old and large for the small-sized guitar; however, I practiced for about 4 hours a day for the first ten years of playing. I love to study music theory, songwriting, etc. So, I will share this with you all as well. After graduating from College with my BA in philosophy I began to study English. I loved the grammatical rules, etc., since they reminded me of my studies in logic. I also saw an opportunity for gainful employment as an ELA teacher in the Texas public school system which would greatly benefit my family. I was always fascinated with communication. I studied speech in school and wanted to become a public speaker. I graduated with my music composition degree from Cedar Valley College with the hopes of earning a BA in speech communications from The University of Texas at Arlington. Unfortunately, due to some controversial events, I left the communications department to pursue a degree in philosophy. I am still interested in communications, so I will also write about speaking and writing theory and practice. I will share my music with you. I am like a modern day soul singer/crooner. I love Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Bobby Womack, Otis Redding, Ray Charles, and others. I like singers that touch me with the pain of their life through visceral melodies. I want to share this with you as well.
I have had a lot of pain in my life. If my suffering, idea or ideals, my teaching, or any influence that I may have on you will help you, then you are my way out and you’ll make me a free man. So, like my posts, share them, and comment.
Yes, I am.