MY BABY DAYS

I don't remember much as a baby, but one memory I dohave—and it seems I'll never be rid of—is vivid images ofmyself lying in bed and kicking my baby feet with a brace onthem! The brace was a metal apparatus designed to try to straightenout my pigeon-toed feet. Having to wear that brace 24-7 wasn'ta fun beginning for me. I was just a little baby trying to enjoy thebeginning of my life, and I had a 3-5 lb. bar with brackets attached tomy baby shoes that felt like it weighed a ton! So instead of the joy ofkickin' and cooin', I just lay there, and to make matters worse, afterall the suffering I did, it didn't work! I'm still pigeon-toed!

As a young child growing up with my crooked feet, at times I tooka lot of abuse from other kids. They used to tease me, and it mademe feel like I was a freak of nature. I didn't know about the ElephantMan back then, but now I know how he felt taking all the verbalabuse that he got from people. But what you see is what you get.If I could straighten out my feet by myself and change my physicalcondition, I would have, but it's like anybody's birth defect—it'ssomething that we have no control over. In the Bible, in Mark 2:5,Jesus healed a paralytic, and Jesus associated the young man's birthdefect with sins. So when Jesus healed him, he said to the youngman, "Your sins are forgiven." So for now, as imperfect humans, wejust have to live with the birth defects we have until Jesus returns tofurther exercise his authority over the birth defects we have, but betterdays are coming (Matt. 25:31). As for me, it's a matter of how amI going to deal with my minor birth defect. Am I going to let it getme down, or will I use it to help build my character and to let it helpme become a stronger person? There's an old movie entitled MidnightExpress, and all the prisoners used to walk around a structure, all ofthem in the same direction. But one day, the star of the movie startedwalking in the opposite direction from everybody else—against thegrain—and in doing so, it helped strengthen him mentally.

That's what my experiences with verbal abuse have done for me. It'smade me mentally strong. I discovered later on in my life what theadvantage was of me being pigeon-toed. Pigeon-toed people are veryathletic—and I am—and they can zig and zag better than all otherathletes! Whenever I look way back at the bad memory of my legbraces, it's intriguing, because some may have thought that scenarioof me in "leg-irons" was a glimpse into my future since I was about togrow up poor! And because of that, I would go on to live my life inleg-irons, a life full of crime and in and out of jail. Unfortunately andironically, that kind of thinking is expected in the big cities where loweconomics do have an effect on a child's choices in life. But it's alsoan excuse. None of that was an omen about my future life, but it didbecome true for some of those around me. It's interesting that I wasbeing judged as a criminal already, and I was just a baby. But I thinkthe concern at the time might have been, was I born with the badgene? Was I born with criminal potential? Some experts claim thatbad people are born with the bad gene, so they are destined to livethat way—bad. So my parents were concerned that if I had the badgene, would it lead me into a life of crime? Or could we, as a family,overcome it? In spite of all the speculations about that, one thingis for sure. Babies are very impressionable, and they learn from theexamples around them, the things they see and hear (Luke 1:39-41).

With me growing up in a big city, one way or another, I wasinfluenced by my city's environment, my family members, and myfriends (1 Cor. 15:33). Unfortunately, we can never be sure whatthings a baby takes into its mind and also its heart. It's amazing how,when a child grows older, he or she acts or talks a certain way, andyou ask yourself, "Where did that come from?" I remember someonecommented to me once that they did everything they could to raisetheir baby right, and after the kid came home from his first day inpublic school, he was cussin' and karate-kickin', so five years of goodhome training and upbringing went away just like that.

Back in the day, my parents had an easier task of controlling some ofthe outside influences or distractions that could affect my thinking. Ididn't have a cell phone, computers, and gaming stations. AlthoughI was influenced by the things and the people around me, the onlyquestions that remained were, was it for the good, or was it for thebad? If you and I ever meet, you'll find out then. To all you parentseverywhere, in our big cities and small cities, especially you in the D,if you have children, I wish you well with raising them. I hope theysurvive. I'm praying for them and for you as well.

Another one of the few vivid memories I have as a baby is that of mymother breast-feeding me. Not only was she providing me with thenourishment that I needed to thrive and survive in this world, but itwas also a time of warmth and closeness between me and the personthat carried me for nine months. The provisions of a mother caringfor her child don't stop after the child exits the womb, althoughsometimes that responsibility gets passed on to others. It's really justthe beginning of their relationship. The instance of being outside themother's womb is probably one of the most critical stages of a baby'slife. Everything that the newborn gets exposed to outside its mother'swomb has, all of a sudden, become a harsh reality. The baby is nowphysically exposed to the turbulent, sometimes cruel, and wickedworld that it heard for nine months while inside its mother's safeand secure womb. How unsettling is that? But while I was in mymother's arms, she made me feel like I was in a safe haven and verymuch loved. Speaking of food, I also remember eating that blandbaby food! Strained carrots, peas, and even the so-called dessert, thebanana pudding, tasted bland! And that's one experience that weall have shared, and we all survived it! In life, whenever someonechampions something, they then become subject-matter experts; likewhen a body builder wins Mr. Universe, he become a subject-matterexpert on food. Well, I find it interesting that Mr. Universe in the90's said that "people have been eating food with condiments for solong that we have forgotten what food tastes like in its natural state."So after hearing that, I stopped putting ketchup, mustard, and jellyon almost everything that I eat. And voilà! My food still tastes good.I liked it when I was a baby eating foods with no condiments, and Iturned out okay. To this day, I still apply that philosophy no matterwhat foods I eat.

SCHOOL DAYS

Elementary school was the start of schooling for me,my generation didn't have preschool. There were morestay-at-home moms back in the day, and kids stayed at homeuntil we were five years old then went to the first grade a or b. Myfirst-grade teacher was a very, very stern teacher. I guess she had tobe that way with us in an attempt to correct any bad behaviors earlyon, before they became deeply rooted in us, for fear we would likelycontinue to act that way throughout our whole lives! First grade waslike boot camp, and my teacher was our drill sergeant. She was meanand unloving; her only focus was training us. Some of those kidsneeded the discipline that they received. One of her favorite formsof discipline was washing out a kid's mouth with soap. There was abroom closet toward the...