Dreams Of My Great-Grandfather: A Conversation To Get Me Through Today’s Pain
If we ever had a chance to rap, I think our conversation would go something like this
When things are truly beyond my control, I pray.
In these impossible times, I pray for wisdom, reconciliation, and solution. During my quiet time a week ago, my great-grandfather came to mind. Robert Peoples was born in North Carolina on June 10, 1848. He was 17 years old when slavery was abolished and was a Civil War veteran. (Yes, those two things are consistent.) Robert was a father to 23 children. Despite having been born into slavery, he acquired a 160-acre farm through his own enterprising. I never had the chance to meet this man who overcame obstacles I can’t fathom.
“If you have breath in your lungs, that means God ain’t done with you yet.”
When I look at the current state of the world, it feels like the imagination is the only place to find reprieve. In a cathartic exercise to release some pain, I imagined what advice he’d give me in these treacherous times.
“Pop-Pop! Thanks for sitting down with me. Man, I have so much to tell you. I don’t even know where to begin…”
