From The Bottom

I've been wanting to say this for some time, and now, as a part owner of an independent record label (Urban Creek Records), a successful working actor, musician and supporter of many with dreams, I have to get this off my chest.  It is a matter that has been weighing heavy on my heart...

As I sit here in apartment #8 in my appointed actor housing, a perk for playing Martin Luther King in Capital Repertory Theatre's production of The Mountaintop, I think about where I am. This apartment is the eighth of eight apartments on the top floor of a building at the top of a hill on Columbia Street in the capital city of New York. Not unlike my home in Park Slope Brooklyn, New York, which is also the eighth apartment on the top floor of a building on a slope, it is fully furnished providing most of the comforts of home.  I sit here in a high place, but I am writing from the bottom.

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The bottom it is perceived to be a dank, lonely place.  At the bottom, there aren't too many real friends or supporters.  There aren't too many reasons to believe that you can ascend to the top or that there is even a top to see.  At the bottom darkness threatens to smote any glimmer of hope with the whispers and sad songs of your naysayers and doubters.  You're definitely not alone when you're at the bottom because there's always someone there in need of company that will do whatever they can to keep you down there with them.  But, there is a song.  A song those at the bottom can't stand. A song my Grandmama taught me as a little boy in Sunday school at Greater First Baptist Church in Sharpsburg, Kentucky. A song that's a declaration that no matter how low your bottom is or how alone you may feel, you have a song to sing.  A song that stares darkness in the eye and exclaims with exceeding joy that, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine".  That light is a fire that burns deep down that no one and no thing can extinguish. When your friends won't support you but talk shit about you behind your back, let it shine.  When your family won't support you because your road to Glory is one less traveled, let it shine. When you find yourself at the bottom and beat down by life remember that there is a Joy and a Light that was given to you that only you can share and you have to let it shine in order to rise!

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You see, down at the bottom, there aren't too many cheerleaders.  There aren't many offering to lift you up when you're tired or feeling weary.  Many of you have dreams and ideas that others may shoot down or laugh at as foolery. They'll call you crazy, a dreamer, too ambitious, corny or tell you that you're not good enough and they won't always tell you with words. Sometimes the lack of words speak loud and clear. Sometimes, the action of taking no action and ignoring you says it all. Those things can threaten to keep you down and cause you to lose focus.  Those things can ruin your vision and mess with your depth perception.  Just remember your Light and let it shine brightly so you can see things for what they really are.  That Light allows you to see in 3D and that 3D vision is what will keep you speaking from the bottom but rising to the top.  When your Desire keeps you Determined you're Dedicated to reaching whatever goals you've set for yourself.

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Today, I speak to you from the bottom. It's not the bottom littered with doubt, confusion and hopelessness.  Instead I speak to you from the bottom of my heart, the depths of my soul.  Support your friends and family who dare to let their Light shine and climb their mountain.  Too often I've seen friends not support their friends until strangers do.  Promote them.  Encourage them.  Encourage children who are gifted and talented and intelligent.  If someone Loves you and is brave enough to tell you and show you, be brave enough to receive it and if you feel the same, be brave enough to reciprocate. So many people are afraid of the dark but that's where they choose to stay. They refuse Light because their eyes have grown accustomed to not seeing and not knowing.  That blindness is sometimes mistaken for tradition, religion, or a way of thinking.  New ideas offend them.  They won't make Love with the lights on because they feel they're not supposed to enjoy the naked body or are ashamed of the way they look.  When you can't see you can't see your own Beauty let alone the Beauty of others in this world.  Thank God for my Grandmama.  Thank God for my true friends and family who refuse to let me not see the Light.  Open your eyes.  They will adjust to new Light just as they do when you wake in the morning. If you see something you don't like or that isn't aiding you on your journey, keep on climbing and the next time you see it, you can keep it moving toward your goal because you ain't got time for all of that. Once you allow yourself to do that, you'll begin to see in 3D, speaking from the bottom as you ascend your mountain to the top becoming a beacon to those who might be tired of the darkness but afraid to walk in the light.