Are you hungry …Then you better “EAT”

I once heard it said that the best way to hide information from a certain race group (guess which one) was to put it between a cover on a page. When I heard this blatant insult, I was highly offended. However, what angered me about the comment surprisingly was not the racism behind it. I was upset by the fact that, in many cases, it is an apparent truth.
In my history class some weeks ago, the teacher asked who had read the Autobiography of Malcolm X. Of course, I raised my hand. I remember feeling inspired after reading this book eleven years ago, when it was a style to wear the “X” on a baseball cap. That was before the movie came out. It seemed like everyone I knew at least owned a copy of the book at that time. So for some strange reason I always assumed that every black person had at some point thumbed through its pages. However, I stood corrected when my hand was the only one in the air. That is only one book though.
The point that I would like to impose upon you for a moment is that there are many, many pages that will go unturned and words that will remain unread and history that will go unlearned if we do not develop a “hunger” for knowledge. We have all heard the famous saying ” If you don’t learn from your history, you’re doomed to repeat it”. How very true. However, ask yourself this question:
If we fail to learn about these great historical figures, the hurdles they overcame, and the accomplishments that they achieved, then was their struggle in vain?
Frederick Douglas was a slave who taught HIMSELF how to read and do math. He did not have the comfort of a classroom or the luxury of an instructor. In fact, he was under the threat of being brutally beaten for learning (you know the things we take for granted HERE everyday). He was “hungry,” and through adversity, he honed his skills.
There is another book out that I wonder if anybody has really taken time to read, while we are on this subject. As old as it is, it is the oldest “news” in the world. Several authors (Matthew, Mark, Luke, etc…) wrote it, and one of the main characters is a MAN who gave his life to save the world. And just like it was cool to wear an “X” t-shirt without knowing who the man was, it’s also a trend to wear a cross on a chain and not understand what this MAN’S death meant.
As I stated before, if you do not know where you have been, you will not know where you are going. However, I will tell you this. If you do not know about THIS book or THAT man that hung on that cross, you had better find out. For those who really do not care, black or white, I can tell you where you’re going!