Wednesday, April 13, 2016

The Elegant Slave

It's 8:30 am!!

Honk! Honk!

You're trying to beat the traffic to arrive early for your 9-5. But stop! You don't even like this job!


A century and eight decades ago there was a great demand for workers within the Caribbean to work on the sugar plantations and that my friend was the beginning of slavery within the Caribbean.

  Slavery is referred to as the condition in which individuals are owned by others, who control where they live and where they work. Slavery, was primarily beneficial to the owners and the individuals in bondage were treated like properties instead of humans.

 It was all celebration and joy when the curtains came down on slavery in 1834 in Jamaica. But did it? Yes! The physical shackles came off. Yes! The lashes stopped, but did slavery end? To this I loudly scream NO!! We are free physically but are still enslaved by the system. I will borrow the coined term "Elegant Slave" and use it to describe the phenomena I am about to discuss.

Elegant slaves because instead of ragged cloths and barefoot out in the sun, we are now clothed in three piece suits. We get dressed daily to clock in at a jobs we are dissatisfied with to generate more income for someone else. We sacrifice so much to keep our employers happy and meet their impossible deadlines. We sacrifice quality time with family, we sacrifice our own dreams, we often tend to sacrifice even our health.

We're bond to these jobs by several shackles. Shackles of self doubt. We believe that there's nothing else we can do, we're not good enough and our dreams are not worth while. We're in shackles of debts; student loans, car loans, mortgage, etc. We are in shackles of greed; we are unable to satisfy we desire the latest gadgets and fashion and must be in the 'now' so we slave on these jobs to keep up with trends. We're in shackles of the opinion of others. We're in shackles of promiscuity. We entertain the practice of having more that one partners no t realizing the implications. It cost more to maintain several relationships. It would be more beneficial to settle with one partner and build and plan for your future generations.

We're elegant slaves to a system that keeps getting richer while our financing are hitting ice bergs like the Titanic.

Monday, April 11, 2016

Fight of the Century

Ding !! Ding!! Ding!

Round one!

The most anticipated fight of the year. The undefeated champion, the social stalwart, the energizer bunny is up against the intellectual, the decisive, the spiritual and the critical thinker.

Elvy Soltau vs. Elvy Soltau!!!

Yes! Elvy vs Elvy. How can this be a competition? A competition is between two entities and cannot be between the same person.

Well, in this battle of the Elvy's the two entities are my personality/reputation vs my character. See, I have spent years being fun, energetic, loud and just all out for anything fun. Which is not a bad thing, because at one point in time that was my goal.

But recently, I have had several encounters where it was brought to my attention that  because of my personality; I am not taken seriously or considered for serious roles. I joke often, and will let loose in any social setting. Due to this practice over the years persons have form their own opinion of me and put me in a box . In Hollywood, this is referred to as type casting, example Kevin Hart and Melissa Mccarthy they play the same roles in different movies.

Now, that I have recognized this occurrence I need to get myself out of this box and let the world know my full potential. I can be of no use  while playing small.
I know others have been typecast and placed in a box; so I have drafted a list of how we can over come:
- Read more (so, you'll be well informed and can contribute to meaningful discussions)

- Speak up more

- Know when to listen

-Accept a challenge (could be something that you have been avoiding for years)

- Don't totally rebel against being typecast sometimes it is as result of great work you've done before. Therefore, learn how to strike a balance. Keep track of your own progress by paying keen attention to the work you have done, work you're currently doing and where you want to go from here.

-Let people know you are diverse and flexible.

- Be resilient.

- Have a goal in mind.


Thank you for stopping by. Go out in faith and be the #Champion you are.