Then and Now
When we left the womb and cried our first breath; when we first saw light and blinked ... reached out and discovered touch … we ventured to connect and didn’t know to do anything else. Those instincts were primal, too often overlooked as ethical, but they were. and when we didn’t do those things it was a sign that something was wrong. that was then.
Today we are distant, lacking empathy ... we harbor hate enough to annihilate entire cultures and species and so we destroy our planet and all things on it. The signs are the same as they were in the beginning and so is the message, that something is wrong. This is now.
There is an effort by some to unify the human race, albeit in some hierarchical order, getting us all on the same page, especially before we venture out into the universe. But we need to have more people comprehend this effort. we all need to view This endeavor as an ethical one, and Once that happens, the answers will come more easily. Call That, tomorrow.
Elizabeth Ave. The white house is where my Newark campaign happened. The occupants in both houses to the right had to be contained before anything else could happen
Those events led me to once more becoming a "floater" ... It refers to someone who is seen as an "asset to the community" who could be sent anywhere in the city’s five boroughs where there was a problem with the objective to defuse the situation. I had a few notable successed doing this and it was accomplished through the city's shelter program, NAICA. I shouldn’t and won’t divulge any more details because I’m not completely retired (a daydream). Further, I have no intention of betraying an oath to serve the greater good or any trust that I may have earned over the years especially to the people and country I am forever committed to.
One could discern that the problem now is that too often, local and regional corruption has exceeded the culprits ability to control it and that applies to my situation and others as well. People on both sides are in denial and are easy to fool themselves with the culprits playing amongst several options, the ‘audacity card’. For example if one were to deny my credibility .., “Who would really think that whenever my plane landed at Kennedy Airport the crime rate in the city would drop two to three percentage points?” It's a point too easy to contest, bordering on the hard to believe and the "unlikely" (in my defense, there would be my numerous credits and also, if the brothers knew when my plane was taking off from Cape Town, then their counterparts in New York would know when it would land at Kennedy Airport ...). Also, would it be an absurd thought to connect the ‘Chelsea 29’ incident as the residue from my successful ‘Newark Campaign’ mentioned above (during which I “painted a yellow line” from Newark to their contacts in Elizabeth City and, if I may, wrapped up the campaign up tighter than "lockdown at Sing Sing")? Or the fourteen contracts put out on me in my Brooklyn campaign (give or take a couple)?
When Corey Booker resigned as Newark's Mayor, the women in this middle income housing complex would call across Elizabeth Avenue; "We want you to run for mayor ... Why don't you run ..." I can still hear those words, they warmed my heart back then ... and I needed it.
Now
It is a difficult, dangerous, gritty walk that I do and the scars are beginning to show. I literally go months without sufficient rest and sleep. It is an arduous labor that keeps things like torture; all kinds of deprivation, suffering and more from reaching our communities. Neither are they small, isolated, occasional incidents but still it is my job to keep the culprits from connecting the dots. It is unfortunate that I do not hear often enough, voices echoing the real life issues my newsletter reports; that we cannot make proper choices and hence, suffer for a lack of relevant information and the mistakes therewith from misinformation. I am hoping that with your support The Potential Enterprise Company can continue to report relevant news and ideas we need to know; champion the issues that affect all of us and maybe occasionally offer solutions.
Email me at: les@infopotent.com I am always appreciative of your comments.
Later
In the Economist’s recently published “The World Ahead”, editor in chief Tom Standage writes that the U.S. and China presently showcase the struggle between authoritarian governance and democracy. The rapid advances in technology; global warming; the migration dilemma; population control, slavery, human trafficking (including organ trafficking) and ethnic cleansing all support the need for a method that pulls people together to address these problems as they outpace traditional governance of any type! Tis true that China’s autocracy displays success on several fronts (especially in emergency situations) at the cost of some basic freedoms. Democracy within the U.S. presently offers the examples of free choice but at the cost of growing political uncertainty and social disunity … all that leading us where? Are the conservatives copying China's manifesto?
The question for the democratic camp is; What is missing at this moment when democracy and history are at a crossroads? A case in point (one of many) is that workers in the U.S. are resigning from their jobs in great numbers. Take it as a sign that something important is missing; a “vacuum” presently filled with too many half-truths, illusions, fabrications and disappointment … and people are tired of it. Tired, because our species can do better. Think to the hundreds of thousands of PhD’s, the millions of advanced degrees and other certificates of higher learning; our multitude of institutions of higher learning and the endless array of printed resources and information available on the internet – and that’s just in the U.S.. One question cannot sum up the idea – but still, with such resources why have only a few individuals amassed billions of dollars in personal wealth when there are so many people on our planet who are without adequate shelter and diet and society is flirting with chaos. For those who have left their jobs and for many of us, a light is going on, that it doesn’t make sense. And that question looms just beneath our line of sight.
My point is that, once they/we understand the crossroads we’re at, most everyone will seek answers and will get on board: the masses, the poor, the pseudo wealthy, small and large businesses and not to be left out, our governing agencies including law enforcement. True it has the makings of a revolution, though perhaps unlike those that have come before us - so lets call it resolution or evolution.
The idea is omni-important and the consideration for all of us is that our lack of answers is causing exoduses, slavery, human trafficking and conflicts caused by what we one day will call 'trivial', the disparities of race, region, faith; then global warming and more. The resolution and potential solutions these ongoing conflicts and wars can bring us is temporary … the chaos will eventually return because someone has lost and they will only be contemplating ways to return or get even! Needed is a win/win resolution and if we cannot negotiate one, the same questions will evolve as humankind expands out into the universe and what will then be our haunting? A war between the planets … a war between the solar systems,… the galaxies? I am a man of faith, I know how the Bible, the Quran and the Torah read to many. I own a small business and I consider myself politically astute. I understand Machiavelli’s notions, how they work and where they fall short - my snyopsis is that things can get better. Much research has gone into my book RoadWindows to explain why that is so!
And yes it’s about ethics. “RoadWindows” points to a method that is palatable and doable. It is a converse to Machiavelli’s The Prince and unifies us. It is a prelude to the coming age depicted in Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari and it offers evidence that all things are possible.
It’s not complicated, it’s ethical.
Leslie Lox, author and principal of The Potential Enterprise Company .
The Truth Closes In
I was living in Bedford Stuyvesant at the time. It was Tuesday morning and I had descended the steps of the row house on Madison Street where I was staying. The hoax of the grey skies made the cool shorter days ahead seem romantic but uninspiring if that’s possible. A mangy couple in their twenties emerging from the garden level of a well-kept Brownstone across the street for some reason gave my stomach a hollowness. These four-story buildings had been purchased for a “song” - twenty to thirty thousand dollars, some for as low as a dollar when the neighborhood was a ghetto. Now the millennium crowd had rediscovered the hand carved fireplaces and doorways, marble counter tops and hard wood floors finished to a gleam. The duo were out of place. In grungy jeans and tee shirts they looked like a pimp and one lonely hoe, fallen from grace, working truck stops, shop lifting and now this. I watched them through my peripheral vision as they crossed the street and fell in behind me. I was carrying my laundry in a large sports bag. It was light so I kept a fast swagger fitting in with the cars buzzing along Madison Street. I turned to scan the small brown paper bag in the man's right hand. It looked like it might be concealing a piece of hardware ..., a gun maybe. Thinking this could be a hit, I scanned them again, to make sure they stayed a safe distance behind me. Almost to the corner and not making up the distance he handed her the bag. “Hold this,” he motioned to her. She put it into her shoulder bag.
When I turned the corner I made a dash for Troop Street lifting my load over my head to squeeze between the cars. I dodged the whizzing traffic to the other side and turned to see them round the corner and immediately enter a Bodega. It looked like it was a hit and they didn’t want to pass through “Blood” and “Crypt” territory.
Why?
This black cat from the three-quarter house where I was staying one day passed through these blocks ahead of me slapping palms and glancing back in my direction, “That dudes alright. He’s with me.” He had cased me back in the “three-quarter” house and deduced that as hard to believe as it was, I was trouble shooting the neighborhood or something; overseeing the children, schools and their teachers amongst other things. I had also helped him and this Puerto Rican guy, both fresh out of the joint, to avoid being set up. They’re ruses were intended as distractions and would have gotten in my way. The Puerto Rican guy left soon after the black cat and on that day had put something in my hand. It was one of those small square yellow “Postum" stick note papers” folded up. Nobody saw him do it. On it was written simply, “thank you”.
Rarely a day goes by without me wondering if I’m doing the right thing and that maybe I should quit this "journey" or whatever I do in these communities I'm conveniently sent to. I recall the people who are too busy to care and those whom I know didn’t or don’t .., unlike the two cats back at the “three-quarter” house. It also bothers me, the small fortune (measured in ghetto figures) I gave up for this thirty year plus campaign and that I haven’t been compensated by the groups who asked me on this journey in the first place. At this point I'd sold two houses plus a cabin on 6 and a half acres with a half acre pond in N.C., not to mention the potential of several well paying careers.
The rusty scenario on Madison St. where my first Brooklyn campaign took place. The bulding just past the white brownstone was where the duo had surfaced
Then I remember the pain on the faces of those tricked into slavery and the ruthlessness of my adversaries. I remember the sacrificial child rapes and the children set on fire for some esoteric ritual. It is a grotesque enterprise where the profits are minimal in a desperate business run by people reckless for power and money. And it continues to grow, connecting to other social, business and medical entities.
Back to the present, from the kitchen window back at the “three quarter house” I would watch a little boy barely four feet tall born without a backbone, who lived next door as he was carried to the school bus on a gurney every morning. In the afternoons I would watch him return home peering up to the sky through his horned rimmed glasses as if a reason for his existence floated somewhere up there amongst the afternoon clouds. He resisted the vestige of fear on his face trying hard to conceal the things he might expect that evening - his caretaker was the only family he had, receiving two thousand plus dollars a month to take care of him. It didn’t work. Few people knew that his caretaker was renting the disabled boy out for sex and had been experimenting on him, seeing to what lengths he could compromise the boys heart or testicles with little or no pain. One of the guys where I stayed suggested he understood the rituals being practiced there and because others who had visited the house had little money, sex with the disabled boy cost minimal.
It was a preview to the resurgence of slavery seeping into the area. They start with the handicapped and then move on to the rest of the community. I didn’t know who exactly was orchestrating this trend but abusing the handicapped in any form is a bad idea. It was raining one afternoon as I peered down from my window to the tiny youngster being brought into his house on the gurney. I wanted him to feel that someone cared and was watching and that something had been set in motion that would free him from his torment. It would happen before a few weeks passed. I’m still amazed at how astonishingly brave he must have been.
What?
There are two beasts in life and I have been in the belly of both of them. It is from whence I speak as this commentary will attest to. Because of our elders whom support me, I was and am able to garner suggestions for a myriad of debacles facing our society, my having been trained to understand and engage the source of our woes. I had been prepared for seven years beyond college and graduate efforts, community, business and work experience to do just this. Rather than one big campaign, for the most part my journey has been comprised of many battles. Many were smaller ... lasting a few months while others were larger with expanded demographics lasting a few years. But they were all uniquely complex in their structure and desolation described here.
I have to say these things, for one because I’m, black which might be why I was chosen for this "journey" being able to fit into almost any venue. But it needs to be said that a black man operated on this level and was successful in these many battles which comprised a much larger campaign. In all honesty the larger campaign seems to be failing.
A second descriptive might portray me as a failure, dedicating thirty years of my life to what has evolved as an ethically principled campaign that wasn't or isn't successful however hopeful I remain. I must add too that an ethically principled endeavor wasn't intended as my original purpose but the request was to follow a particular directive according to my demeanor and the needs of the communities I visited and follow it I did. That commitment led me to this three/quarter house for the disenfranchised and those recently released from incarceration. It was assumed, rightfully I admit, and due to my preparation that I would know what to do in these situations.
No matter how these circumstances are portrayed one could say with confidence that one amongst us had mounted a gallant fight for our children and our future; scoured the bellies of both beasts; sorted out and engaged the hoodlums, terrorists along with countless others who were supposed to be hardworking and honest. I might add that the so-called "hardworking, honest" individuals were often the most horrific of all. I would go for weeks without sleep and when it did come I had learned to literally sleep with one eye open. Although I really couldn't see anything it was a matter of staying half awake. I had worked and fought until my arms locked or were too heavy to raise. My legs not to be bested seemed timed to lock or give out as well at their most needed moments.
I have to wonder if it was because I was seen to be successful in spite of the obstacles before me that I fell out of favor with those gents who had originally asked me on this campaign. Actually, most of those gents are probably no longer around and their successors probably aren't familiar with my oath and the scope of the campaign (at least that's what it seems like). However, they should be witness to the severity of the events and situations as they arise, how they are handled and so should be able to recognize and understand my role in them. I can see no excuse for my lack of support.
How?
Now, after thirty years of it I admit that a certain economy defines my actions. The engagements have become battles of the mind - spiritual fracases, opposing ideas from opposite quarters vying for power and position, to say the least. Hypothetically, who is to say that one religion is better than another when they both believe in the same things; you cannot steal, lie or harm another person etc.? Who is to say one political system is better than the next when the same people who have money in an autocracy will be the same ones with money if it becomes a democracy and visa versa? They are often analogous conflicts and the physical properties they assume like those demonstrated above are the actual areas of concern. In the example above, slavery was and is a largely mental exercise but there it took on physical properties when the man who claimed ownership of the disabled boy started experimenting on him and renting him out for sex. It’s the same in other cases where sacrificial rape, ritualistic immolation, forced labor and more is present. More often than we realize it is our behavior that needs address and adjusting more than the system or institution.
Adding to my own difficulty, I must engage my adversaries who make use of pious implements indicative to their particular culture and religious beliefs and me without even practical support. Just my experience and general knowledge of these things has to prove sufficient. That is not meant in any way to berate these practices but rather to explain how complex my job has been and so to support my desire now to receive payment and retire.
Where else can a lack of support, a lack of credit for my successes and importantly a lack of compensation point to? Support; credit for one's accomplishments and compensation after more than thirty years would be the tools of my trade for past, present and future endeavors. Knowledge and experience are useless if, due to a lack of financial support, approval is inconsistent; I have no credibility or backup and I lack mobility and access to the resources I need. As tools they are enabling which is important for what I was asked to do. Most important is that these things point to the greater campaigns failure and so I am exhausted. However, in all honesty, true stories like the one above make it hard to for me to stop in spite of wanting to move on to other things, perhaps even writing. I keep waiting for the cues but they don’t come.
Further, it should be stated that I took an oath and was asked on this campaign. I did not volunteer. Even if I, with great humility, say so myself, the gents who urged my participation apparently had done their homework and knew they were asking these things of someone with suitable ability. The above "job" was one of many over a thirty-year plus period and from that you may conclude that the campaign itself was an important undertaking and thus me recognizing this, would naturally finance it diluting my small "fortunes". I may push myself physically but I have exhausted myself financially. The campaigns and my own coffers need address.
That having been said, I say to you with momentous urgency that It doesn't look good for us black folks. Some of us don’t have to see over the horizon to know what’s there. We should be alarmed. If we do nothing we have only ourselves to blame. Be we then, the culprits of our own demise.
Finally, do remember that peace is a strategy but so is work, diligence and patience. Live them hard.
More information on my books is available on leslielox.com
More information on my books is available on leslielox.com