SeanYoesWrites.com

Towards the end of 2009 I met a gentleman who has lived a very colorful life. At one point in his life he was one of the most prolific bank robbers in America. Now, he is a highly respected businessman, one of the patriarchs of East Baltimore. His story is ultimately a story of hard-won wisdom.

I interviewed him recently and he told me the story of, “The King of Habits.”

When the police finally caught up to me I don’t say I was arrested, I was rescued. Because, I had two strong habits; gamblin’ and robbin’.

Moses taught the people how to break their bad habits. King Pharaoh was not the king of the flesh he was the king of habits and your habits ain’t gonna turn you loose, no matter what somebody says your God says.

You got to learn how to turn your habits loose. King Pharaoh is the yoke around your neck. Your habits are the yoke around your neck. Moses taught the people how to break their habits.

And in teaching the people how to break their habits they crossed the Red Sea. But, the Red Sea is not a body of water, it’s your bloodline. And when you break all your bad habits you wash out the blood, the blood becomes clean.

That’s when Pharaoh’s army was washed away. Once all your habits are broken—you’re not fornicating…or drinking or gambling or hating—you break all your sins.

Black men and Black women have amassed a lot of bad habits in our relationships with each other during our time  in America.

We don’t know how to talk to each other or treat each other with respect and dignity. When it comes down to our ability to communicate with each other–verbally, physically, emotionally or spiritually–in general we’re not very successful. But, we’ve been doing things the wrong way so long it seems natural to us.

 We probably don’t know why we do half the stuff we do in our relationships. For example, I have a friend who often says, “That’s just what I do.” Well, truth be told a lot of what she does is pretty f’d up. We’ve become comfortable in our old, bad habits.

Maybe for 2010 instead of the same old tired New Year’s resolutions–you know, less pie eating, stop smoking, stop drinking–maybe we need to go deeper as men and women.

Perhaps, we should resolve to deal with fear, jealously, anger, lust, covetous, pettiness. Maybe we need to truthfully and honestly do some real soul-searching and dig down to the roots of our own wretchedness.

Happy New Year.