“Learning To Read” ABC’s
A) Malcolm X describes how he learned to read and educate himself while in prison. He frequently proclaims his love of books as well as thankfulness for having gone to prison, in which allowed him the time and resources to learn.
B) 1. emulate: imitate; match or surpass. 2. machinate: engage in plots and intrigues; scheme. 3. ratification: sign or give formal consent.
C) Q1. Had malcolm ever been acquainted with Elijah Muhammad? Q2. If Malcolm loathes the “bleached” men as much as he does doesn’t that make him no better than his white oppressors? Q3. What exactly are faustian machinations?
prescription happiness
September 9, 2008, 10:49 pm
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journals I was probably nine or ten when I first met him. It was towards the end of the summer and he and his wife had just moved in. Being the annoyingly curious little boy I was I walked over to the garage sale they were having. Once there I commenced asking the annoying questions you’d expect someone of my age to ask. How it happened I couldn’t even tell you, but it seemed this elderly couple new to the neighborhood had come to like me, or should I say put up with the questions.
Though it meant little to me at the time I learned that Mike had cancer, this mysterious sickness of which there appeared to be no medicine for. Time passed and we both grew older and wiser. I was now more aware of his condition and asked, “Aren’t you scared of dying? I mean cancer is pretty serious.” It wasn’t right then and there when I was to be answered, but later, in the time between where I would find clarity in his situation.
When he was diagnosed with the illness the doctors estimated a few months survival, it had been several years since then. A while later he would be diagnosed with leukemia. Same story, couple of months, few years later still going strong even in spite of the chemo therapy. It’s hard to see people you love suffer, but not once did I ever pity that man. Not from a lack of heart, but from his abundance of happiness and optimism. He had found his medicine. It was free and required no prescription.
Whether aware of it or not he taught me that though sadness and depression are natural feelings we all experience, over time you realize that those precious seconds you spent in emotions of sadness were seconds you could’ve been happy and enjoying life.
