Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. And happy Monday!
You’ve probably heard of Kwanzaa. But you may or may not know anything about it. The celebration is a week long, commencing December 26th and culminating January 1st. I urge you, in the interest of simply exercising your brain and becoming more informed, to read up on it a little bit. But I’d also like to draw your attention to the seven principles that serve as the foundation for the celebration of Kwanzaa. As written, they are meant to develop a stronger sense of community and intra-ethnic reliance among people of African dissent. But when read without racial context, they are unbelievably applicable to each and every one of us on a daily basis. The timeframe of the celebration, as we move from one year into the next, provides further significance to these principles, and food for thought as we seek to make 2014 the best year of our lives.
Day 1
Umoja – Unity
To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, {and race}.
Day 2
Kujichagulia – Self-Determination
To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.
Day 3
Ujima – Collective Work and Responsibility
To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers and sisters problems our problems and to solve them together.
Day 4
Ujamaa – Cooperative Economics
To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.
Day 5
Nia – Purpose
To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
Day 6
Kuumba – Creativity
To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
Day 7
Imani – Faith
To believe with all our heart in our people, our parent, our teachers, our leaders, and our the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
Days 2 (Ujima), 3 (Ujamaa), and 6 (Kuumba) are my favorites, and three principles by which I try to live life. What principles, defined above or otherwise, are you planning to weave into the fabric of your life in 2014?
Make it a GREAT day and a GREAT week!
Stay blessed.
