Grand Rapids Alumni Have A Job To Do

The Grand Rapids Times
7-3-2009
Adult's Walk
By Marcel Gamble

Many of you might have seen this picture before or might have dreamed of it before; but to refresh your memory, like a talented artist, I’m going to paint this picture.
With bright colors and sharp edges ,this painting displays a being that has been blessed with an abundance amount of success.
To draw this person I am using the sharpest lead along with the newest paints.
The individual in the paint¬ing is flawless.
The finest clothes ever made by man are wrapped around this person’s body.
Precious diamond jewelry is on the hands, neck, and wrist of this successful person.
Everything about the indi¬vidual in the painting is perfect – symbolizing that the person in the painting has made it in life.
However, the background of this painting doesn’t co¬ordinate with the exuberant flawless being.
The background is dark and gloomy because it symbolizes the life that the alumni in the painting came from and doesn’t want to venture back to.
Many of you might have seen this picture before or might have dreamed of it before; but to refresh your memory, like a talented artist, I’m going to paint this picture.
With bright colors and sharp edges ,this painting displays a being that has been blessed with an abundance amount of success.
To draw this person I am using the sharpest lead along with the newest paints.
The individual in the paint¬ing is flawless.
The finest clothes ever made by man are wrapped around this person’s body.
Precious diamond jewelry is on the hands, neck, and wrist of this successful person.
Everything about the indi¬vidual in the painting is perfect – symbolizing that the person in the painting has made it in life.
However, the background of this painting doesn’t co¬ordinate with the exuberant flawless being.
The background is dark and gloomy because it symbolizes the life that the alumni in the painting came from and doesn’t want to venture back to.
I am walking this week to express the fact that it is good that many of us are progressing and becoming young profes¬sionals.
But it is not good that many of us are becoming successful and forgetting where we come from.
We can’t live and act as if we are a priceless painting; we have to live life to be an aide to others.
If you are from the hood and you become somebody doesn’t mean you have to constantly run from what built you into the person that you are today.
If you know that it’s difficult to become a young professional because of your residence, then why would you turn your back on the generations behind you that are attempting to be suc cessful as well?
I call that being a painter without the right tools.
You can’t be someone who leaves the hood and then try to preach to others about being successful.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t experience life beyond where you are from.
I am saying that where you are from shouldn’t be forgotten.
Just as you may have struggled coming up, you can believe that there is someone else struggling even more to be somebody.
We as young professionals now have to be alumni.
We have to stop wasting our breath with talk; and, honestly, we have to begin to walk.
It’s understandable that everyone has something in their past that they would like to forget, but we all have to remember that when we bury our past, we are throwing away someone’s future.
I want to be able to paint a picture with a lively being and a brilliant background.
However, I am incapable of painting such a piece by myself.
As alumni of Grand Rapids, Michigan we all should be able to indulge in creating a masterpiece for others to envision.
We can change the canvas known as struggling Grand Rapids into the canvas known as alumni helping Grand Rapids.
Many of us are high school graduates of some of the schools that are struggling financially and academically.
We can all paint a different picture.
As alumni, we can give back even if it is just a dollar a week or mentoring to students that need guidance.
So many others looked out for us when we were younger and provided the re-enforcement that we needed to get us where we are today.
As alumni, it is our jobs to return the favor and do the same for future leaders.
Pick up the paintbrushes and let’s walk.
One for the week: “Be sure your love is true love. Hate what is sinful. Hold on to whatever is good.” _ Romans 12:9