Men’s Meeting – 5 Stars thanks to Jarell
Today we had our monthly Men’s meeting. 15 men ages 17 to 60 converged at Joe’s house for some BBQ on his back porch. I brought Jarell, one of my little brothers from Big Brothers of America. This was the first meeting he has attended since we’ve been doing them. I met Jarell when he was 12, he is now 24. He came over my house to discuss a business proposition two days ago. He expressed his short attention span and how he has so many interests yet he lacks the focus to see things from start to finish. I’ve always been concerned for Jarell. But after today I know Jarell will be just fine in life.
Jarell was the star of this meeting. His insight regarding his own generation and his ability to quote authors and tie in history to validate his point was magnificent. Even his questions were on point. The elders of the group all agreed that Jarell gave them a bit of knowledge that has created a deeper dimension to their understanding of the younger generation.
The beauty of our meetings is that no one speaks down to another; we all are there to receive as well as deposit knowledge and perspective. I believe Jarell’s A.D.D. is a part of his seeking of life’s lessons from differing angels. I know that with a sprinkle more of maturity Jarell will find his niche and rip a hole in this world and make his own positive mark of representation.
Good work! Your commitment to these men should be commended along with all who participates every month. God bless yours and their lives to reflect the fullness of your talents and your value to society.
Very heartfelt and inspiring…I sincerely wish that more brotha’s had your mindset. Keep on keeping on with that!!!!
Thank you Ladies, on the way home Jarell and I were talking about having women participate. We agreed that would be a bit more counter productive. However, it would be great to spawn many other groups of Men meeting such as we do, as well as women getting together and discussing womanhood with young ladies. The reason why I blog about the Men’s group is to motivate others to start their own group. I believe 15 to 20 people per meeting is ideal, any more than that looses its manageability. So we need more people to start their own groups. If you start one for women, we should have an annual men meet women meeting.
I challenge you to challenge others to live up to new challenges.
You’re absolutely right, J. I’ve been searching for an outlet for my teenage daughter to participate in. Speaking to a few of the sororities in my neighborhood, I’ve found there is a great need for mentoring groups for our young women.
I accept the challenge (with a side note that I may need your guidance to get started.)
Talk to you soon..
Song Bird LA
I am looking to begin a mentoring group for young ladies. I would love for your daughter and any other young women in your life to participate. If interested, I will get your email address from my husband so we can begin to gather young women as well as other mentors who might be interested in participating.
Looking forward to hearing from you
Many Blessings
Can I get some credit?
Sure Jeff. Jeff is Jarrell’s big brother. Jarrell’s biological brother is my little brother from Big Brothers of America. So us group of 4 adults (The PB Group) had two Junior PB’s. They hung out with us all the time. We were going to hang out, camp, movies… anyway. So volunteering your time to a worthy cause sometimes doesn’t take any time at all. We all agree that having our Jr PB’s was a cool experience. We learned perspective from them just as they did from us.
So Jeff, do you think we had a positive impact on them? Hope we didn’t mess them up too much. Remember when we allowed Jareem to drink for the first time when we were camping. He started sneaking more alcohol than we gave him. He spent the night in the bathroom hugging a public toilet bowl… we couldn’t pry him from that bowl…lol
Everything in moderation young grasshopper.
Periodically having a teen/young men & young women summit is a great idea! The women’s group can talk to young women about different aspects of college, economics, choosing a career, interview skills, work ethics and etiquette, loving & respecting oneself, sex, relationships, family, and etc.
The bi-annual or annual young men & women summit will be influential in driving home points regarding topics that are more gender specific. Sometimes young adults just need to see and hear what the mentors are saying from the horse’s mouth.
And keep up the good work Jeff!
God Bless
I was one of those men there on sunday and found his knowledge of today’s issues very impressive. May God bless him to inlighten his generation so we as black people can uplift one another instead of talking sh@t about our brothers.
Peace and Blessings
This sounds awesome man.
Speaking of men uplifting one another, hopefully there is also an organization in long beach helping our adolescent gang members unite and make better lives for themselves (if this meeting doesn’t touch on that already).
The meeting gave me a great deal of insight, as do most of our meetings since I’ve met you. I appreciate the opportunity to be around human beings as inspiring as you, and always look forward to the next encounter. Thanks for never giving up on me!
Awwww, Plus1 that is too sweet… E-high5 to JHarris and Jeff! What a dope honor! Keep up the good work!