You hear motivational speakers say it all the time, but many still wonder if change can happen in an instant.
This is a story of how quickly change can happen even when you’re not looking for it.
At the Chicago projects late one night, everyone in the house was asleep except for a nine-year-old girl.
For some reason, she was up, so she turned on the television.
Back then there was a show called the Late Show. The Late Show was introduced with a jingle every night and was the last movie to be shown before television went off the air.
Yes, there was a time when television stopped broadcasting.
The jingle read like this: “The Late Show, relax, have a snack and watch the Late Show, channel 2 is proud to bring the best stars here on the great Late Show.”
The movie that was shown was a bit of a blur for this girl (maybe how to marry a millionaire), but what she does remember is that some of the most beautiful women of that era were in it.
They were not only beautiful, their lives were full of joy and fun. They had grapes and flowers on their tables, drank wine and martinis, and dated some of the most handsome and well-dressed men she had ever seen.
This movie made a big impression on this little girl and at that moment her life changed. Instantly!
Now, she was only nine years old and living in a three-bedroom apartment project in the Chicago slums, but her life changed after seeing that movie.
Shortly after watching this movie, she went to the welfare office with her mother and noticed that there was a long line. It was for government rations of cheese, powdered eggs, and powdered milk.
She put on her mother’s coat as they lined up and asked “why do we have to line up to get food?” His mom told her to “shut up.”
She couldn’t get the movie out of her head.
But she couldn’t get this movie out of her head of women with beautiful bodies and dresses and food and grapes and flowers on the table and handsome men in their arms. She was nine years old and she couldn’t get this movie out of her head.
She couldn’t understand why her life looked like this and the life she saw on TV was so different. Her life had changed forever and she knew it.
The movie was just a vision to show him that there was something different out there. There was a life that was better than the one she was living and she wanted it.
She came home with her mom and asked “what can I do so I don’t have to stand in line to buy food?” His mom said to get an education and leave Chicago.
He stored that information in his head and worked hard and did exactly that. It did not happen without challenges. As a teenager he hated everything and decided to rebel and follow the teachings of Elijah Muhammad. She became a Muslim at 17.
She was faithful to the religion until she realized that all the Muslim men were persecuting her for sex, so she quit. She had not graduated from high school and she found a mentor while she was working at the mayor’s summer youth program who showed her how to get a GED.
She passed that test and left Chicago for college in Jackson, Mississippi, where her father and many of her mother’s relatives live.
He got his degree and was happy to get out of Chicago.
At the age of nine, she swore that she would never stand in line to buy food because it was such a sad memory as a child.
She did it. Against all odds. Where family and friends were drug addicts, convicts or prostitutes. She came out even when the whole society was painting pictures showing her that she couldn’t.
There were billboards with people drinking and gambling, there was constant violence. Lots of days I had to run over guys who had been shot or stabbed to get home. But she never got the movie out of her head.
She believed and her mom told her what one person can do, another person can do if you believe.
She moved to Houston after graduation, fell in love and married a wonderful well dressed educated man and had three children.
That girl was me, who at the age of nine DECIDED to change my life. Change absolutely happens in an instant. It happens with a decision. Once the decision is made, things will begin to manifest in your life to make that change real.
My kids don’t know what a welfare office is not because I’m rich or anything special, but because it was such a bad experience for me as a kid that I worked hard so they didn’t have to go through that drama.
Dedicated to the boys and girls who think they can’t get out
This publication is dedicated to young boys and girls growing up in the slums who have to face things that they may be afraid to speak about in public. They may be losing faith and don’t believe that things can get better for them. Can.
Just make the decision that you want a better life and GOD and the universe will move mountains to make it so. The decision sets everything in motion and the work you do makes it happen.