Beauty, history, and ancestry, are just a few collection of words that come to mind when Africa, the motherland, is referred to. Last Wednesday Dr. Gregory Carr put another word in perspective, CHAMPION. Champion, defined by the dictionary, is “a person who fights for or defends any person or cause.” These champions weren’t victorious in the Super Bowl or triumphant in the World Series though, no these champions, these African champions sought “to recover African Deep Thought from its historical African background” in order “to show that such deep thought serves as the basis of what we now refer to as “academic” [school] work.” This is where Dr. Carr’s word really begins to take perspective to me, because you see if one never learns then all connections toward wisdom are lost. Now you ask yourself who cares about wisdom? Your wisdom. How does my wisdom account for the better of a future for all? Well for one the gaining of your wisdom does not just affect you, no matter how much you think it does. How? The gaining of your wisdom is what helps to build an enduring capacity to apply learning to meet communal challenges. With Wednesday’s lecture it should be evident to everyone. Learning can just be an option, or forced ultimatum. Learning should not be the need anymore but the want. The want of all those who would one day want to be known as a champion, of any decent, for “The most serious threat to African dignity is in the domain of intellectual ability” (Carruthers, Mdw Ntr, p. 1)
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