Over the weekend, I was blessed to be in Miami, participating in a retreat convened by the Open Society Institute, which leads a campaign commited to supporting African American male achievement. When I first saw the agenda, I was concerned that this “meeting” would be a challenge–that there was far too much on my work plate to afford myself an opportunity to “retreat.” I came with an open mind, but certainly, with a BlackBerry full of emails and notes about deliverables and due dates.

But after four days of community-building and reflection, I feel differently.

For those who give of themselves everyday to defend human and civil rights, trying to make sure that our communities are whole, it is often a struggle to do the same for ourselves. It is a challenge to take a moment to rest, and when we do, we often feel guilty. Too many of us consider an hour alone to read a book for pleasure to be a luxury we must sacrifice.

On Friday night, I had an opportunity to see Sweet Honey in the Rock perform, and they sang of peace and love–both concepts with which I’m very familiar. However, as their melodic voices found their way into my soul, I was struck by how much I have applied these concepts to others, but almost never to myself. Peace and love externally are not achieveable without a demonstration of peace and love internally. Thank you, Campagin for Black Male Achievement, for allowing a space for me to recognize that though I am grateful to have been chosen to engage in work to advance democracy and social justice, I must be sure that I achieve peace and balance in my own life. I–like many of those around me–must accept the truth that, as my favorite artist sang in 2004, “even the soliders need a break sometimes.”

This is a personal promise that I intend to keep.

Copyright 2009 Monique W. Morris

““The zone where the natives live is not complementary to the zone inhabited by the settlers. The two zones are opposed, but not in the service of a higher unity. Obedient to the rules of pure Aristotelian logic, they both follow the principle of reciprocal exclusivity…The colonized man will first manifest this aggressiveness which has been deposited in his bones against his own people.
–Franz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (1963)

Food for thought…