Madea's Wisdom

Proverbs 4:7-8 Wisdom [is] the principal thing; [Therefore] get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; She will bring you honor, when you embrace her.

© 2 May 2011, The Griot Poet

Mildred Dean Goodwin: sunrise 15 September 1925, sunset 7 May 2009

My mother hung

a sign on my

bedroom wall

which read:

"It isn't smart

to argue with a fool:

listeners can't tell

which is which."

I wish Lawrence O'Donnell read

this

before expecting maturity

and lucidity

from the mother

of birthers: Orly Tate.

Who avoided any

notion of apology

by berating the president

on supposedly falsifying

not only

his short and long form

birth certificates,

but his social security number

and selective service papers.

Hate

has no logic,

but it has many fathers.

Who don't bother

with facts or data;

fairness or balance:

because Hermann Goering's chancellor

said

“Make the lie big,

make it simple,

keep saying it,

and eventually

they will believe it”

(and Goering said: "Education is dangerous - Every educated person is a future enemy.")

So,

I wasn't miffed

or defensive when

a hair's breadth

after the news

a man named Obama

a man named Osama

(ironic and poetic)

that the same

fringe element

demanding long form

birth certificates

(now in the public sphere)

strove mightily

to credit

exclusively

the previous

president

(or, the statement

this one wasn't

"enthusiastic enough"

about the announcement

or the grim duty

of putting special

forces soldiers

in harms way)!

I smiled,

remembering

my mother's

wisdom;

Tom Joyner

& Jay Anthony

Brown's

humorous

rejoinders,

knowing truth,

and the knowledge

that sometimes

doing a good job

is ITS own reward,

God only

promotes

and restores.

I smiled:

in full strength

of my mother's

wisdom...

stood tall,

straightened my back,

and

walked...

away!