Dr. Alex Gee

You Don’t Believe Fat Meat Is Greasy!

Our elders believed in respecting elders. Therefore, when they said something, they felt that we should listen and take heed. They also strongly believed that younger people should learn from their experience and benefit from their hard-earned wisdom and gorgeous gray hair.

For this reason, when we rejected the sage wisdom of the elders, and it blew up in our faces and created a huge mess—their response to us was often: “You don’t believe fat meat is greasy, do you?!”

In essence they were saying, “That’s what you get for not listening. You think you’re smarter than us just ‘cause you got yourself some education! You don’t believe anything you’re told until it jumps up to bite you, and then it’s too late!”

With the invention of internet and creation of google, it is sometimes hard for me to pass along wisdom from my generation to my daughter’s. I might have to dust off this saying and revive its use.

#GeeismsForBlackHistoryMonth #ThingsOldFolksUseToSay

“I Shoulda Listened To My First Mind!”

Older African American people were often extremely intuitive. One of the gifts they used to navigate such a coded and invisible, unjust systemic reality, was to listen to the inner voices of their souls. They tried to teach us what they had learned as a survival tactic, so they often said, “When you’re makin’ a big decision and don’t know what to do, or which way to go, listen to your first mind and go in that direction.”

The intent of our leaders was to help us avoid second guessing and unnecessary mistakes.

Today, too many folks in our community err by taking routes that seem easier, or popular. Our mere existence is proof that we are an original design, so why do we waste such precious time trying to follow the paths of others that weren’t necessarily meant or cleared for us?

Old folks used to admonish us to slow down, be still, quiet ourselves, and listen to that inner voice… that first mind, and do what it says. We’re likely make more informed and mature decisions if we do.

Are you facing a major decision? Do you need direction? Try some of the wisdom of our elders today. Slow down so that you can hear, and respond to, your first mind.

#GeeismsForBlackHistoryMonth   #ThingsOldFolksUseToSay