Ideas in Antiquity Week 12
This week is all about the leaders in this course. Thinking back to my senior year of high school, I knew I wanted to be in a place where there were students like me who wanted the best for each other. I’m more than glad and truly grateful that my journey of life ended up with me being at Howard University. This school has changed my life and inspired me. Seeing the family us Bison have all over the world and now having a Vice President in office, I am inspired and will of course continue to work towards my dream of becoming a “first” in my home state of Connecticut. I can’t wait to see the future of myself, the current leaders of this world, and the leaders the generation of my children and beyond will be.
I am truly impressed with the work of my peers as it was truly eye opening to things I have seen before but failed to notice. Starting with group one, I wanted to speak upon the influence of music on leadership. Everyone has a favorite song. As the daughter of people born in the late 70s and a Carribbean, music plays a prominent role in my house and overall culture. Music to me is a stress reliever that lifts my mood and makes me wanna dance the night away. Songs serve the dual purpose of sounding good and sending a message. Knowing this purpose, I feel that the selected song of this group “Changes” by Tupac Shakur was a true song.
This song is one I am familiar with (Thanks to my father) as its message is powerful. The rap movement of the 90s was one that is defined as the “Golden Age” and very much a defining moment for the modern culture of minorities. An example of its influence is modern rap today. Although it is not too clean lyrics wise, it still speaks about society today as it has an intense focus on sex and how it’s easy to find in our generation. Backtracking to the 90s, rap was known as an outlet to speak upon the injustices in the communities rappers lived/grew up in. Community is important to leadership as that is what it thrive in. As my mother (and most people ) says, “it takes a village” which I believe is true. Without my support system that I consider a community, I would not be the same person I am today. Yes I had the necessary skills inside me to become a leader but my community kept me focused and made sure I never gave up. Having a calling means nothing as it is the journey that matters.
Speaking about journeys, I feel like this song took me on one. Key verse one was a perfect example as the lyrics made me see what the artist was seeing around him. His community was struggling as he spoke about its poorness and how the police are no help to them. The idea of police and their role in every day life is something that is still controversial to this day. In my eyes, I grew up fearful of them as I had a traumatizing incident with them at a young age. I can easily ask five people in my community how they feel about the police and get similar responses to the lyrics in this verse. I am someone who is very sensitive about this topic as it’s scary. It’s scary trying to be a leader in this world when going outside wearing a certain outfit or simply being seen the wrong way by the right person can end up with you being shot or killed by the police. It’s even scarier knowing that my future children may still have to live with that fear instead of being safe when they’re not in my arms like I’d hope they’d be.
Although it’s not a nice thing, I feel that this fear is vital to the development of the community. Most things in the community never get fixed as people often feel no way about it. This comes from poverty stricken places that have fixable things that are often ignored. The roads on the streets I used to travel down in my home community are dirty, often filled with trash, and damaged with potholes that I’m sure can fit a car in it all by itself. If it wasn’t for my fellow leaders (and amazing friends) and I advocating to our community leaders, the streets that are now being fixed would still be the same. True leaders are ones who not only see but act on the problems that their community is facing.
Speaking about leadership, I feel that music is something that can inspire leadership. An example of this within group one’s work was within key verse three. This verse served as a call to action as it stated that “It’s time for us as a people to start making changes, let’s change the way we eat… live… And let’s change the way we treat each other.” This part of the song was the most impactful to me as it was truly honest. The way the Black/African-American community treats one another whether it be colorism or anything else is truly disgusting. In order to fight the injustices in this world, I feel that we should stop destroying one another and change the bad for something good and improved. Until this is done, I do not think that we can move forward from the affects of slavery and make a better future for our young ones.
Moving onto group two, they surprised me with the leadership element of my favorite movie “Princess and the Frog.” I have always felt that true leadership can start in young people by proper representation. And this movie has that so let me tell you what rewatching it/learning from the presentation taught me.
Tiana was an amazing representation for me as a little girl since I finally saw that I too could be a Princess. She, just like me, didn’t have too much money but she made sure to have rich dreams and high ambitions. Her hard work paid off in the end but it was her leadership, proper use of skills, and support from her true friends that got her to the place that she wanted to be. Her dream first came to play in passage seven where her father nurtered her gift for cooking. Instead of keeping her away as she was only a young girl, he instead let her take the lead and learn from her mistakes. I learned many of my skills this way too. Having mentorship that allows you to take the lead in your passions is the type of mentorship that all leaders need.
This mentorship was then passed down from Tiana to her future husband Naveen. These town came from totally opposite backgrounds but opposites often attract as both sides are able to benefit and learn something new from the other person. Tiana learned how to stop working so hard and have fun. Naveen on the other side got to see a world where people work for what they have and most importantly, do things by their selves. Cutting up a vegetable might be simple to most people but Naveen grew up having people dress him and even brush his teeth for him. Tiana mentored him by being understanding and showing him how to do the task she asked of him. She then made sure to encourage him so that he would continue to practice and not feel bad for his lack of skill in that area.
Although it’s good to work hard, there is such a thing as too much hard work. The discussion of hard work versus being a workaholic was one that was interesting to me. I feel that the two are obviously related but the difference is the use of fun. Someone that is a hard worker is a person that knows their limits and is sure to be healthy all around. A workaholic is someone who only knows work and has trouble with limiting their work and ensuring that they’re resting, eating, and just taking overall breaks from their duties. Knowing the differences, Tiana and Ned were workaholics. The two of them had great dreams for a better future but their lack of limitation led to them almost losing everything that they invested so much time in.
The image of a hard working black woman is one that I find toxic. It’s hard to get what we want in systems that were built against us. Although black women are the most educated in the world, there is still a struggle for equality whether it be monetary or simply due to the idea of a hierarchy where white men rule supreme. Black women have to work twice as hard just to even be in the same area as their white counterparts who can be mediocre and still be fine. It’s even harder to dream when there’s no one to ask for help as it’s a true war to get into high positions that others get easily. Leadership needs support but how can you be supported by someone who doesn’t know how to get you to your end goal.
Mentors can’t and often don’t know everything but I feel in order to be effective, they must at least know something that can help advance their mentee. Within this film, I felt that Tiana was a weak mentor as she was too focused on her own dream instead of encouraging the dreams of the people she mentored. Her ambition was admirable but it was too selfish to be passed on to other people. Ray served as the best mentor as he showed everyone the truth about themselves with his special light. Though he was a tiny firefly, he proved his strength and clever use of his skills by constantly saving and guiding his friends to what they needed to solve their problems. His death was a heartbreaking moment as he was a true mentor who would have inspired many other people if he had lived a little longer. Luckily, they could look up to the sky and be reminded of his light and love for everyone, including his love Evangeline.
In conclusion, both of these works revolved around community. They each taught me their own special messages and made me realize how old things can still teach something new. I loved learning the perspectives of my peers and am excited for the projects that come next. So let’s see what I’ll learn next week!
