“FINRA whistles the play dead”, The MMTLP Winners and Losers

Crank up your HBOMax app, or borrow a friends account and watch “Gaming Wall St“, if you need background on the reddit by the name of wallstreetbets that has gone viral among common folks who dabble in stock investments. Whether you agree or disagree with the concept of people banding together to share trade information and investing as a group, or not, its happening all over the world. For example, for people interested in trading in FOREX markets, there are paid subscriptions where people join conference lines and invest in calls or puts against currency pairs, real time, based on an expert’s educated guess shared on the conference line. Its foundational that when you plan to invest in anything, you want to be able to weigh the risks and potential gains. In a society of impatience, people are willing to lean on the expertise and research of trusted sources, even if those sources are sources by association. Kindergarten games teach us, the further away from a personal connection to the true source, the less likely your information is credible, yet the daring members of wallstreetbets stay the course and sometimes risk it all on opportunities to win big. The publicly traded security Meta Materials Preferred Shares (MMTLP) had a unique and tremendous upside, because the company submitted documentation, signaling they were going PRIVATE and giving trade of the security a hard stop date of 12/12/2022. This setup the uncommon environment for an inevitable short squeeze. However, to the surprise of many investors, MMTLP wasn’t available for trade at all in the pivotal last days of trade. I guess I have to give you a little back story on MMTLP before I get into winners and losers.

Torch Light (NASDAQ:TRCH) was a stock that some in the wallstreetbets group speculated would grow massively last year. The company was acquired by Metamaterial Inc, and the symbol was converted to MMAT and a number of MMTLP preferred shares were awarded to any current shareholders of TRCH in the process. Anyone still holding these shares or still paying attention learned that, this year, the company filed documents with the proper trade authorities, committing to going PRIVATE. When a publicly traded company decides to spinoff and go private, all investors must close positions before the deadline given, or the respective brokerages will have to forcefully close the positions themselves to balance their books. This isn’t unusual, MMTLP is not the first company to spinoff, and they won’t be the last.

What I found to be blog worthy about this particular situation is the unequal treatment of individual investors in comparison to hedge funds. After word was given that MMTLP would be going private, hedge funds were given continued authorization to short sell this security. When you short a stock, you are basically loaned someone else’s shares to sell immediately receiving the cash, with hopes and expectation that the price of the stock will fall. Then you can buy back the loaned amount of shares and keep the difference. How hedge funds were allowed to do this, while at the same time, some brokerages weren’t allowing MMTLP to be purchased at all by the public is perplexing. According to some in the wallstreetbets group who claim to have credible sources, the security was shorted well beyond the amount of shares that exist. When a company is heavily shorted, there is a simulation of low investor confidence. The price of the stock dips because so many shares are being sold in a short amount of time. Ask yourself why would a hedge fund be allowed to do such a complex transaction, if the average Joe couldn’t even do simple transactions like buying on the same symbol?

With the hard deadline for the MMTLP spinoff approaching, countless shares of the security would need to be bought back by the hedge funds to close their short positions, which was set to send the price of the security soaring, or as wallstreetbets members say, “to the moon”. FINRA, “the powers that be”, decided to do what some unpopular referees do in American football. In the NFL, if a player fumbles and the opposing team picks up the ball, and runs in for a touchdown, the play can be reviewed, and depending on the video review, the defensive team can be credited for 6 points, or the ball can be placed back at the yard-line of the fumble if the offensive player was found to be “down by contact” post-review. In hindsight, they can get the RIGHT call and proper outcome with the help of review. However, if the referee whistles the play dead, the defensive team never has a chance to run the ball in for the touchdown, and the best possible outcome for the defensive team is never realized. Even if the defensive team’s coach challenges the call and it turns out that the offensive player really fumbled the ball, the defensive team never gets that moment of open play to score again. In a situation where there was a clear path to the end-zone, defensive teams often feel like losers, even if they are awarded possession, because of the opportunity to score they were robbed of.

FINRA whistled the play dead. Instead of allowing the living breathing markets to balance themselves, and the chips to fall where they may, the markets were trifled with by FINRA, and MMTLP was administratively and prematurely taken off the market on 12/09, days before the deadline. Investors never got to see just how many shares hedge funds needed to buy to close their short positions, and never got to see what that demand would have done to the price of MMTLP. The settlement of the shorts was handled under the table and off the books, mafia style. A hedge fund would have had to close its short positions and depending on how reckless the hedge fund had gotten with MMTLP shorts, the event may have wiped them out completely, causing any other stocks to dip, if in the proverbial blast radius that is said hedge fund’s portfolio. As the price of MMTLP went up, investors would have had the opportunity to sell their shares and reap the benefits of stock purchases at prices that some had waited over a year to see. Reports of suicide attempts and devastation for the people who were deemed less important than hedge funds by FINRA have rang out all over twitter and reddit. Are some hedge funds “too big to fail”? If so, shouldn’t the risks they’re allowed to take be regulated?

In this NFL analogy, FINRA is the referee, hedge funds are the offensive team, the winners, who fumbled the ball, and everyday investors, like the people in the wallstreetbets community, are the defensive team, the losers, who recovered the ball and looked to score before the play was blown dead. The unknown actor is the defensive team’s coach. Who challenges the ruling on the field? The damages are unknown since trade was stopped, but it is no question the ball was in the hands of the real shareholders of MMTLP, and they deserve more than Next Bridge Hydrocarbons‘ private stock. I hope to God this situation results in real change, new regulations on hedge funds and FINRA, and less market manipulation in the future. It stinks of corruption, and gives me little faith in the concept of the market being free flowing and administered ethically. At time of posting, this was the most recent update I received regarding the matter, and it leaves a sliver of hope for MMTLP shareholders. I hope things work out in their favor.

Missing Child: Losing Enzo

I’m going to tell you a story about a father, or at least a guy that thinks he is a father. From what I hear, he is pretty excited about the prospect of fatherhood, and considers it an awesome responsibility. How he came to be a father is far from conventional, but that didn’t paralyze him, and he was looking forward to everything he could comprehend about how his life would change from the moment he looked into the eyes of his own son. For him it was a dream, and his dream turned into a nightmare when his son went missing before he could ever lay eyes on him.

To tell this father’s story, there is only one name he would want you to know, and that’s the name of his boy, Enzo. For over 8 months he prepared with the child’s mother, though there was no romantic relationship between them. On nearly a weekly basis during the prenatal months, the expecting parents spent hours planning how the child would be taken care of. When angered, the mother threatened to run away with the child. Sometimes she humored the idea of co-parenting, but was strongly against broken homes. Because the father refused romantic relationship with the mother, the mother often wanted to abort the child or give the child up for adoption, and favored those options above allowing the father to raise the child absent of her involvement, even when assured no child support would be requested. You see, the mother had a bad experience growing up in a broken home and wanted no such life for her unborn child. At the same time, she wrestled with the thought of abortion. She knew the father wanted Enzo, even if it meant raising him alone. The mother knew how the father was preparing for the child, but was very upset when the father was out of town on the day she went into labor. She had not forgiven her own father for not being present for her mother when she was born. She decided to give the baby up for adoption, saying “He should have been there”. The father was denied access to any information about the child due to HIPPA though some US states have laws that allow anyone to inquire about the identity of a parent leaving an infant child at the hospital, emergency medical services station, or fire station. This situation would have to go to court, and that’s when things really take a turn for the worse.

The effect of COVID 19 caused delays in securing a court date. When a court date was finally set, Enzo would have been 5 months old. The first day in court, the mother’s lawyer submitted a motion to dismiss the case, stating that the child was left at the hospital, so the father should be required to gather any information from the hospital directly, as the mother’s parental rights had been forfeited. The judge denied this motion and ordered the parents to sort out their grievances in mediation. When the mediation date arrived, the mother was uncooperative, exercising her right to remain silent. When Enzo would have been about 6 months old the parents met in court again, and the judge thought it was reasonable to require the mother to disclose the hospital of which she gave birth. The mother gave this information begrudgingly. The father and his lawyer, spent the next few weeks contacting the hospital and worked their way up the chain of command until they got someone to acknowledge and obey the court order over HIPPA and disclose data they had in their system regarding mothers who left their infant at any of the hospital’s locations. There was no match on the mother’s name or child’s name at the hospital that was given in court, for all the reported hospital’s locations in the tri-county area. By the next time, the parents would appear in court, Enzo would have been just about 8 months old, and the father would have to begin apologizing to friends who gifted clothing for the baby’s first few months of life at the intimate baby shower he organized for Enzo weeks before birth. When the inconclusive report from the hospital record search was given to the judge, the mother would be sworn under oath for the first time, and asked to provide sworn testimony under penalties of perjury regarding where she gave birth. The mother, representing herself, stated under oath, that she did not know where she gave birth, and after 8 months, had forgotten. The judge then gave the father and his legal team the ability to search the mother’s phone because the mother reported to be in possession of a photograph of baby Enzo at the hospital, on the day the child was born, which could have been used for geolocation purposes. A private investigator and the father’s lawyer examined the mother’s phone and photo files of the child to no avail. The mother appeared in court with new representation 2 months later, and under oath stated she was never pregnant and the whole thing was made up. The father contests this, but his legal team has lost interest in his case, as it has taken longer than expected and has yielded little money for them. With proper, diligent representation, the father could get the information he needs to find if the baby was adopted, or if something more sinister has taken place of which the mother is trying to cover up. He maintains that he was in the presence of the mother the entire duration of her pregnancy, and even helped her to make a “paper mache” mold of her stomach at 7 months. He has several ultrasounds the mother gave him during the prenatal months that he is forced to cross-reference with local hospitals and clinics, when he gets off from work, due to stagnating support from his legal team.

Men like Enzo’s father, are in need of reform in the area of father’s rights, as well as financial assistance while awaiting on the law to mature around the issues of father’s rights. As Florida Governor DeSantis approves millions towards Father’s rights, there are fathers in desperate need of competent legal assistance. Not only should more Governors initiate similar initiatives in their states, but providing grants to help fathers secure better legal assistance would help since so few laws give the father any inherent rights to a child without DNA testing. When a father has been proven to have done due diligence with respect to establishing paternity, such a grant would allow swift legal paternity actions to be filed to overturn unjust adoptions, and also provide justice in cases when the mother may have acted criminally against her unborn child. Florida happens to be a state that has such laws that allow fathers to inquire about the identity of a parent leaving a child at a hospital, however no hospital would place this state law above HIPPA, even when pressured by a lawyer. The legal teams of hospitals have to be involved which wastes more precious time as the trail for children like Enzo grows colder by the day.

Positively Polarizing Times

The unjustified murder of George Floyd, the protests, and the riots combined with the already stressed economy, unemployment numbers, and unconquered COVID-19 pandemic has had a way of dividing the country in unprecedented fashion. Not only are we being divided into many subgroups based on our opinions on the issues of the day, but we are being much more open about it. The initial public response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with all of its Tik-Toks and social media challenges, has created a phenomenon where more people than ever before have become comfortable being themselves online and have begun welcoming the world into the more intimate parts of their personal life through social media. Americans are sharing images and videos of their children, pets, living rooms, eating habits, and love lives. Likewise, our followers and who we follow has increased and diversified, as more of the population has adopted use of social media platforms. In this time of controversy, Americans, in their newfound comfort for web broadcasted self-expression, are sharing their more intimate opinions and philosophies regarding the polarizing issues of the day. One’s political views has never been so public as it is today.

While the present times are exposing how we are different, they are also showing us how alike we are. The country’s use of the internet and social media has left us with very few barriers to information and very little censorship of ourselves with regard to our opinions, which is exposing how we share similar viewpoints on issues with demographics of people we’ve never associated ourselves with previously. Even in the context of our differences, we’re seeking an understanding of exactly why we have the differences we have with renewed enthusiasm. The time in quarantine has given us unprecedented exposure and acceptance of groups of whom we’ve never previously given our attention to. The people we’ve found refreshingly entertaining and inspiring during the early pandemic times, are now sharing their opinions with us on things like criminal justice reform and giving us unique angles on complex issues. All this opinion sharing is publicly dividing us into much more complex and uniquely diverse subgroups.

If you’ve been paying attention, you should have noticed how there isn’t only two groups or two opinions about the issues plaguing our society these days. There isn’t one unified Republican or Democratic opinion, neither is there one unified white or black opinion. Instead, we are able to see, now better than ever, how misaligned our stereotypes and biases are with reality. There are violent and peaceful people of all races and backgrounds. There are black people who refuse to protest for black issues, while there are white people who willfully stand against injustice in spite of their own personal risks. There are black people who refuse to be violent or loot businesses, and there are white people who are showing up to the scene for the sole purpose of looting. There are unique struggles for the small business owner that are blind to race, and the same for the struggles of the uneducated non-essential worker. For all the different ways a person can choose to identify themselves, there are those who are fine with how their life is working out, and there are those who are demanding change. If we wish, we can continue to focus on what divides us, but it is growing increasingly difficult to remain ignorantly affixed on race-based stereotypes and historical lies. History is repeating itself in a way, that won’t allow us to be passively ignorant because the truth is too frequently flashing across the screens of our timelines. Many are googling historical accounts of abuses of power in America and relearning the lessons fed to them in history classes.

Through research and understanding, we should take the time necessary to break down the mental barriers we’ve placed on people who don’t look like us, believe what we believe, or share our sexual preferences. If we adopt a new understanding and stop categorizing ourselves in all these outdated subgroups, we can have more honest conversations and treat each other as humans, and nothing more or less. This could potentially be a powerful lesson for our collective social consciousness, where “the majority” isn’t viewed as the white majority, but as the voting majority. The voting majority desires to live in peace, with all the rights and privileges the constitution affords the citizen of the United States of America. The voting majority could demand the government to make changes that benefit all people in the country and stop those in position of power from violating the rights of anyone.

This is a pivotal time where we should better understand the quote “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”, seeing first-hand how the issues that plagues me today can affect you tomorrow. This was illustrated in the supposed mismanagement of COVID-19 by the Chinese government which has resulted in global outbreak and an investigation into China’s actions by other allied nations. This is also illustrated in massive protest and outrage of the American public that is currently aimed at the criminal justice system of our country but has had collateral damage in the form of curfews and property damage that has affected people who never saw it coming. In the midst of division, there are Americans standing together today, that may have never stood next to each other if it were not for the combination of monumental events occurring back-to-back. It is clearer today than ever before, that our differences, as humans, are much less than our differences of opinions. It is clearer than ever before, that our socioeconomic status and education levels govern our choices much more than the color of our skin. As people organize and protest together, new and diverse networks are being formed and I predict this year’s voter turnout and voting results will be unlike anything of the past. The ability to construct a platform that reflects the sentiments of the voting majority, using all the statistical data made available in the last 6 months of social media activity, and the conclusion or lack of conclusion of the issues we currently face is going to make for an interesting election in November.

A Looter’s Mindset

I present to you, the backdrop. Humor with me this scenario…

You believe in the right to protest. You believe in the principle of “government for the people, by the people”. You believe it is the right of the people to stand up and voice their displeasure when their government does not serve them, or worse, wages war against them. In this scenario, you are a black person in America, and there are certainly black people who feel under siege by the police in their communities. This is your reality. You feel, in America, people with darker pigments of skin only benefit from the white majority being morally and financially divided on the issue of how to treat people who have similar skin tone as you. Surely, there are some who still believe you are less than human. Surely, there are some who will believe in your humanity but view your life as something less valuable than a white person’s life. Somewhere out there, there may even be some who believe you are created equal to a white person. Since the abolishment of Slavery in the USA, White America has wrestled with it’s divided opinions surrounding how to treat those classified as “black” in our society. People with brown skin have secured rights within society over the years, but brown people keep finding inconsistencies in society’s enforcement of the laws surrounding the violation of their rights.

The reality that White America is the real America and Black America is some cheap derivative is made painfully clear when you witness someone black being killed by the police on a video you watch from your social media timeline. The image of that person’s last moments on this earth is imprinted into your mind, and you follow the story in the news and on social media to learn more. You find out that no arrests have taken place, and your mind cannot fathom why. For you and people who look like you, the presence of physical evidence like the video you watched does not yield the same arrests that the video would yield if it were you in the video doing the killing. You are outraged.

You decide to protest, and you assemble with a group of other people who share your outrage on the injustice, some you know but most you do not. You hold your sign, yell your message to all that will hear. You reflect on the history of your people as you walk and chant, because the act of protesting in this way is reminiscent of the days of the Civil Rights Movement. Yet, your reality through the prism of the Civil Rights Movement only intensifies your outrage, making you increasingly determined to get more definitive change within the system that oppresses you and people like you. You want to finish what your people started years ago. What will you do differently to bring about the change they could not? You wrestle in your mind for an answer to this age-old question, understanding that both the nonviolent and violent actions of your people, together, led to the incremental changes of the Civil Rights era. Suddenly, you hear glass shatter nearby. Someone in the crowd has caused damage to a business, and people are beginning to enter the building and take things…

What happens next will differ for you based on the combination of a multitude of factors. Your personal core values and morality, your needs, your socioeconomic status and ability to provide your own needs, your familiarity with the business that was damaged, and your level of outrage are only a few of the factors that will dictate what you do next. In fact, if not merely provocateurs, the same contributing factors would be the likely motivation for the unknown person who damaged the building in the first place.

Consider the mindset of the immoral looter. For whatever reason, life experience has not given them the core values and morality to resist the temptation to steal. This person may shoplift on a normal day, merely because they have devised a scheme to get away with it. During a riot or protest, when the police are preoccupied, they could act with no respect or care for the just cause of the people assembled to protest injustice. This kind of person would even seek out such an environment to carry out their scheme, because it presents opportunity to escape consequence.

Consider the mindset of the need-based looter. This person develops a higher sense of morality when they themselves do not have a need. On a day when they just purchased the newest iPhone, they will be zealous about turning in a smartphone they found unattended at the Starbucks condiment counter to lost-and-found. However, when their current phone is “on the fritz”, stumbling upon a shiny new smart phone may be too good to pass up, even though they don’t feel completely right about taking it. This person could simply hear word that Target was broken into and show up to grab a TV because they wanted a new one.

Consider the mindset of the poor looter. This person lives their life on the edge of going without basic needs on a regular basis. This person may or may not be homeless, but they are living in poverty, nonetheless. If they have the opportunity to take something, they don’t have to know what it is or how valuable it is. They’re basic needs are on the forefront of their minds, so much so, that they would take anything and figure out it’s value later. This person could benefit greatly from riot in their community and would certainly seek out the opportunity to secure anything valuable for themselves in such an environment.

Consider the mindset of the vindictive looter. This person can justify doing wrong to those who they’ve associated as the source of their anguish. We all know someone who is vindictive. When given the opportunity to kick their enemy when they are down, they will most certainly take it. If there was a negative interaction with a representative of a business, it may be all this person needs to destroy and loot from the business.

Lastly, consider the mindset of the enraged looter. This person is in a genuine state of rage over the issues that plagues them. There is not much forethought to any of their actions and they are capable of almost anything in this dangerous mental state. They’re looting is out of their anger and it doesn’t have to be anything personal. They are reflecting their pain on the world around them in any way they can.

In America, especially during this time of pandemic, you cannot isolate any of these mindsets to only black people. You, most certainly, should not link the actions of any looter to the cause of the nearby protest. You could consider looting a byproduct of the cause for some, while most others are merely capitalizing off an opportunity for free goods while the law of the land is too preoccupied to enforce immediate consequences. Minus the unknown provocateurs, I believe the video footage of the George Floyd riots reflects the diversity of the people with these mindsets. However, if you tried to isolate these behaviors to only black people or tried to provide some statistical analysis of why the mentalities I discussed are more common among African Americans, you would only be highlighting factors created by systemic racism and highlighting the things that we should be trying to change rather than perpetuate.

Too often, the laws of our society fail to serve the black man and woman. If this yields lawless acts of the black man and woman, we should not pretend to not understand their reactions, whether we agree or disagree with the lawlessness. Looting has always been part of riots because of the lawless climate it creates. If someone would steal on a regular day, they would certainly loot during a riot. When the thing you want for yourself is right before you, nobody is going to stop you from taking it, and if you don’t take it someone else will because you’re surrounded by takers, only a higher sense of personal accountability and morality will stop you from doing so. You cannot fathom what you will do until put into position and presented the temptation of no immediate consequence. This is the mindset of the looter, yet this is ironically the mindset of the police officer abusing his or her power of authority and use of force. If we care about the lawlessness of the rioting looter, we have to care just as much about the lawlessness of the police officer. It is the African American’s desire for police officers to have a similar higher sense of morality and personal accountability in their use of force, yet we are still trying to fix the system that should hold them accountable when they they fail to protect and serve the black civilian. The black civilian only has the ability to loot in times of riot, while the police officer can exert their power over the black person at any time. Certainly, there are abuses the black person endures at the hand of police that are less severe than death. Yet, it is only in the extreme cases of wrongful death do you get the mass media response, subsequent protests, and occasional riots. It is my hope that law and order is reestablished across the board, that there may be justice for all lawlessness and less hypocrisy in the world.

Men Have No Inherent Value – Part 2

“Men have no inherent value. Women and children are valued simply for existing. This is why boyhood to manhood is an especially rough transition for males. Because they’re no longer loved simply for existing. Their worthiness must be proved, or they’re nothing. And no one cares.”

– Unknown

I read this on social media and wanted to respond to it because I fear it may be the reality for some, and I would want to give that person a different perspective. I’ll break this up into two parts.

Part 2: Inherent value based on assumed potential. That’s a thought!

In this part of my response, I want to highlight how society has a way of placing limits and expectations on us, which can imply our value within it. I’ll focus on perspectives of which I feel I can expound upon. I’ll write of the minority American male because there are some realities that people of color share. I’ll write a little about the American white male because quite a bit of their perspective is exposed to us through American culture. I’ll also write about the African American male because there are some realities that apply to African American men that are separate from other minorities.

As a minority in America, the more connected a man is to the culture and customs of his ancestors, the more inherently valuable he is. This connection gives him an understanding of what is naturally unique about himself. “The first record of people like me in history…what were they doing? Where did they live? How did they affect the world around them positively and negatively?” When you can answer these questions with information from recorded history of your people, you can be authentic just by following tradition. You can also place value on anything you consider advancement of the culture throughout history. To evolve, it behooves you to make the adjustments, when necessary, to move your culture forward. For example, if your culture eats a food with nearly every meal that is proven to lead to some form of heart disease, you may want to change the cultural practice of eating it with every meal. Eating less than culturally appropriate may be necessary when reasonably acknowledging studies on the matter. As established in Part 1, inherent value should be things we do naturally that aid in our existence. If something we do is proven to be of harm to us, the value of it should diminish. Every minority has their own culture. One way to better understand a different culture is to pay attention to things marketed to them as ads. There is a marketing strategy for the child, teen, young adult, and adult of every minority group you can think of. These strategies, at the very least, communicate what society expects you to be able to afford, what you are expected to be interested in, what you are expected to find fashionable, what you are expected to find attractive, and, ultimately, what you are expected to think. The television programming targeted to the minority group reinforces these expectations. Ultimately, a stereotype may accurately apply to you, but it is important to acknowledge when exceptions exist. Again, inherent value must be realized by the individual in their doing. It would be foolish to devalue the things that are stereotypically valuable about you, for the sake of breaking a stereotype.

As a white male in America, there are fewer social constructs standing in the way of your will for your own life. The white man in America, arguably, has more assumed potential than any other subgroup of people in the country. The world is your oyster here, and your inherent value is proclaimed in all the history books you will be assigned in school. You don’t need a week or a special month to acknowledge the contribution of your culture to American history, because you attribute the country’s very existence to men who look like you. No matter the occupation, it is not difficult to think of someone who looks like you or comes from a background similar to yours in any walk of American life. There are bridges built for you to cross over many rivers that some minority groups are still swimming across, despite the predators lurking. This isn’t to say white men do not overcome obstacles, of which those before them did not. It doesn’t mean that white men do not make history. However, when white men make history, they get recognition. Yet, some white men find it hard to understand why praise is given when minorities do things for the first time. It may be difficult to see others receive praise for making it across a river he walked over with ease, and he might find it hard to understand the “big deal”. The white man’s inherent value cannot always be placed on others in America because his assumed potential and the expectations on his life are different than non-whites. Likewise, his perspectives cannot always be applied to others. TV programming gives the white man no limits on who he can be. Considering the perspectives of others, in the spirit of love for your fellow man, is sometimes the only way to see past the film of privilege over your eyes. Maybe the hippies were on to something in the 60s and 70s, as it relates to love and respect for your fellow man. If this is something you or someone you know has struggle with, it may be useful to refer to that period of white American history for guidance and figure out a way to make it your own. Devaluing others does not increase your own value, and this is the lie of saying one human is more supreme than another. All the expectations can be paralyzing, and the disappointment from not living up to the expectations placed on you can make you feel worthless, but know you have value.

As an African American man, it may be particularly easy for you to see yourself as having little to no inherent value. Just know you would be believing a lie about yourself. For African American men, depending on where you come from, depending on who your parents are, depending on the neighborhood you grow up in, it is possible for very little to be expected of you. It can be very little value placed on your life beyond childhood. It is quite possible for the quote in question to be your reality, but you can do something about it. TV programming gives you excuses to underachieve. TV programming can mislead you to think you are limited to only specific avenues to success. The narratives you’re given about people like you can make you feel like less than a man. There are degrading words like thug, gang member, boy, or criminal that might be used to describe you. Don’t allow those titles to put film over your eyes and prevent you from seeing that you are a MAN. You don’t have to be “in the streets” to be a strong man. You don’t have to have a criminal past in your success story, and you don’t have to be ashamed if a criminal past is in your success story. By understanding that you are, in fact, a MAN, you can look at the history of MEN, and aspire after anything your heart desires. The world is also your oyster. Maybe, there isn’t an example to follow that fits you perfectly, but the victory will be much sweeter if you reach the heights of your aspirations. If you fall short, transform your motivations into a lesson plan, and coach someone else to surpassing your mark. If your offspring do not want to follow your example, find someone else who will. Start a social media page. Tell your testimony. Speak of your value. Be proud of your accomplishments and give credit to your foundation, your childhood, and your ancestry, no matter how much or how little you know of your genealogy. Honor your mother and father by giving them credit for any and everything they did to start you off with inherent value greater than absolute zero, even if the world says you started from the bottom.

When you consider the expectations and assumed potential of individuals throughout their lives, it should be clear to see that there are rough transitions into adulthood for both men and women. Whether this transition is especially hard for males in comparison to females, is debatable. I never commented on the “nobody cares” bit, because for most people, it just isn’t an accurate statement. However to humor it, I’m reminded of Ahmaud Aubery. When he was killed, his family cared. A man was dead for months without an arrest, because not enough people cared. If it were not for the care of his family, his story of injustice may have been forgotten, and along with it, the value of the life that was taken. Our value is tied into our family, into our history. Equally, our value, as men, is tied into the history of all men. You are, potentially, just as valuable as the most valuable man that came before you. Our history started well before we ever arrived. We must tap into our inherent value by knowing ourselves, knowing where we come from, using the short cuts that are the successes of our predecessors, and learning from their mistakes. Is this not what is expected of us?

Men Have No Inherent Value – Part 1

– Unknown Author

Part 1: Value for existing

I want to deconstruct the notion of value by existence, and try to establish a different way of looking at the inherent value of a person, if you want to put inherent value on someone, which is debatable in itself.

Inherent value is value by merely existing. We could argue that all life and all that exist have a part to play, and therefore have value. Circle of life aside, existence, in itself, is optional. Therefore, from the perspective of humanity, I believe inherent value is where the things you do naturally intersect with your existence. To describe your inherent value, for me, would require an analysis of what you do naturally and how those things aid in your existence. In my opinion, all people have inherent value. I, however, believe inherent value can be realized, surpassed, or it will depreciate. Inherent value depreciates when you lose the ability to do something that aids in your existence. It’s like having raw data, without the ability to make useful information of it. It’s not valuable in its raw state.

Children add to the family count and are expected to bring couples together in a united effort of parenthood. This aids in the child’s own existence because the mother and father are stronger together. There is however no guarantee parents will stay together. There is no guarantee the child will be adequately cared for. There is no guarantee the child will live and there is no guarantee the child will be valued, though every child certainly has value. I believe children are not valued by merely existing because they are expected to constantly eat, learn, and grow for the sake of their existence. Of course, they have no problems doing what comes naturally to them. However, if for some reason a baby could not do something expected or had a disability, we have a way of lessening their inherent value in our own minds. As we grow older, we are expected to be more self-governing, and this self-governance comes with even more expectations, starting from a very young age. As we mature, there is a growing expectation that we will learn to do things beyond what we are naturally inclined to do, in exercise of our free will. A child that is failing to meet early childhood development benchmarks, arguably, loses value because less is expected of them. Society lessens their potential, and they must choose to surpass what is expected, sometimes very early in life. To me, doing something other than the norm is unnatural. In response to the author’s statement “worthiness must be proved”, doing things that don’t come natural to you is what I would consider to be proving your worth and going beyond your inherent value. This is also expected of children, not only men.

Like the child, a woman’s value is not from merely existing. Any inherent value related to childbearing is connected to the man. Any true obligation to value and protect the woman for merely existing, in theory, died with women’s equality. Based on this theory, any value we would like to give a woman for mere existence is in opposition of her own will for her life. The social norms and chivalry of today are completely optional behaviors, and there are plenty examples of men who do not subscribe to these ways of thinking, as well as examples of women who decline the gesture. Women have very high expectations on their lives, but in the end, it is their choice to create value for themselves beyond the realm of expectations. If standing on a mountain, are your feet not on the ground, regardless of your elevation? If the floor of your assumed inherent value is lower than someone else’s, it doesn’t mean you have no value, and if a person never rises beyond the floor of their inherent value, what has their existence added to the world? Men should not look at a woman’s inherent value and say we have none in comparison.

A man has inherent value when viewed through the lives of his predecessors. It is this viewpoint, that governs the assumed potential of a boy, as he matures into a man. His value shapes what his parents expect of him and what the world around him expects of him. If he comes from a family plagued with crime and dysfunction, he is expected not to fall too far from the tree from which he has grown. If a father is considered a great man, the value of the father is often placed on his sons. I’ve heard a Christian or two refer to themselves as “a child of God” or “kingdom kids”. In this sense, the Christian would be finding inherent value in their being, based on the God they believe created them. Being careful not to limit the arena of the predecessor, other men that look like us or come from where we come from also give us some inherent value, however stereotypical that might be. This may explain why the media has such a vested interest in shaping the reputation of groups of people. While preserving a stereotype through media coverage can be categorized as culture acknowledgment, culture preservation, historical reference, or statistical analysis, it sometimes has a way of reminding people of “their place” and can potentially harm the growth and evolution of a group of people. If you don’t understand or don’t agree, I won’t explain much further, but I will ask you to consider the aforementioned as you ask yourself why it’s usually a big deal when there is a “First Black [INSERT ANYTHING HERE]”. It is a big deal when someone of color does something no one who looks like them has done in American history. It’s a milestone for the culture and an example of how to make it out of the places they come from to get to a place no one like them has ever been. If you follow their footsteps you may get close, you may reach the level of your predecessor, yet you may surpass them. The fact that nobody like you has ever done something can either be a motivating factor or a discouraging one, but both perspectives are valid.

I realize what I am writing is contrary to the notion that men have no inherent value. However, it is not my intent to persuade you to think having no value cannot be the mentality for some people. On the contrary, I believe this is the reality of some men because they have reason to believe it, but it is not their truth. Exposing them to a different narrative, gives them a choice to continue to believe a lie, or to live by a different truth. It is a more positive perspective on reality. If they choose to consider the people who came before them, consider their childhood, the principles taught to them from a young age, acknowledge the obstacles they overcame because someone told them about the obstacle, and highlight the obstacles they overcame through perseverance. If they consider all this, they will surely stumble upon the measure of the man they are. You realize your inherent value as a man in your doing, no different than children or women. Making use of scientific principles, a child’s value is both potential energy, and kinetic. A woman’s value is both potential energy and kinetic. It is the same for a man. What would we say of the value of a woman who can physically have no children or chooses not to? Surely, she still has value. Value is only realized when potential energy becomes kinetic. Potential energy becomes kinetic when you decide that you will do something valuable. What you will do is up to you. The less you do, the more you depreciate your own value. The disappointment tied to your inaction is like heat energy burning off a man who isn’t living up to his potential, and not realizing his inherent value. Because energy is never lost or destroyed.

Biden v Trump 2020: Old, White, and Unfiltered

As the country reacts to the news about Joe Biden’s possible miscue on “The Breakfast Club” interview with Charlamagne, I’m strapping myself in for what may be a wild ride to the polls in November.

Two old white guys, one democrat, one republican, both with mouth-filter issues. Should one be held to a higher standard than the other? Should only one be allowed to shoot his mouth off, unfiltered. Two old white guys who know they are to represent their parties in the presidential election. I expect they will both boast and speak very proudly to their respective bases from now until November. They will defend themselves and their records and paint themselves as profits who saw the drama of 2020 before it happened. Along the way, one of them may say things that will make groups of people feel uncomfortable and may upset a few communities. A scandal may resurface for one or both of them. With all that in mind, I hope there is no double standard, this time around.

Last election year, whether you love Hillary Clinton, or you hate her, she was a million times more presidential, in her presentation, in how she conducted herself, and in how she spoke on the issues. Every debate, when asked a question, she communicated competency on the issue, dropped a reference to her record on the issue if applicable, and explained how she would handle the issue if elected president. In the same debates, on the same questions, seconds before or seconds after, it was optional if Donald Trump ever explained what he would do about the issue, if elected. Yet, after the debate, when everyone weighed in with their analysis, Trump was praised when he simply “held it together”.

It is my hope that this year, when the country looks at their televisions, and listens to these two old, white, and unfiltered gentlemen, they’re treated as equals in the post-debate analysis. I hope the media, and the nation holds the two of them to an equal standard. For free, I hope nobody wonders how we got here. I hope nobody bothers to say, “I’m not voting for either of these guys”. Come November, if Trump doesn’t pass from complications related to hydroxychloroquine, I hope the majority of the nation looks at these two guys, acknowledges that one of them will be elected, and chooses one or the other based on their understanding of the issues and ability to articulate their plan of action to “Heal America”. Because, man, “Heal America” could easily be someone’s campaign slogan. America is hurt, America is sick, America is suffering, America is crying out for help. Americans need rehabilitation, Americans need therapy, Americans need healthcare, Americans need solutions.

Let us not give anyone any points on “holding it together”. Let’s educate ourselves on the issues as we quarantine. Let’s become smarter voters and understand how to make our votes count. Let us sign petitions, create SuperPACs of our own, and take actions to make the issues that plague our communities part of the conversation, and vote on the platforms of our candidate of choice. Let’s vote with our brains, and our conscience. Nobody should have been surprised when Trump used twitter as his platform of choice to communicate matters of national security. Nobody should be surprised how Trump answers tough questions from the press from the podium, given the way he answered questions on the debate stage. Trump always talks of his “numbers”, whether he’s talking about the polls or how many confirmed carriers or deaths associated with the COVID-19 virus the US has. To him, it’s a game of numbers, and if Biden comes in and plays the same game, I hope it is equally acceptable. I’m sure it’s obvious who I don’t plan to vote for, but regardless of the outcome, I hope the double standards of 2016 don’t resurface in 2020.

Equal Pay for All

Violations of the law of anti-hypocrisy must stop wherever it may rear its head. Whether you learned it as “love thy neighbor as thy self” or “Would you like that if your sister did that to you?” almost everyone has been taught the concept of anti-hypocrisy by a person that loved them at an early age. It is something that is assumed we all know, and it should be obvious we do not all live by it. This principle shapes our laws of ethical business practices, criminal law, and is the spirit of fairness. It is the spirit of sportsmanship, and the spirit of many sacred things that we as humans hold dear like the price for food and commodities. You want a “fair price” don’t you? You want the umpire to call a “fair game” and you want “fair pay” for the work you do…Oops…Maybe I shouldn’t go there. Since there are still companies that pay women less money when they do the same work as men. Just as well, employers are still paying black people less than white people for the same job…but wait…Where does that leave black women?

If John negotiates a great salary for his project management position, it should be considered unethical to pay anyone less, with similar experience, at the same office, for the same position, if hired after John. John set the bar, and everyone else benefits from the bar he set. Is this not fair? Is this not what equal pay for equal work is all about? Sometimes there is no way to know what John negotiated, unless you ask him. But should you have to ask? The company knows, and they should acknowledge what the position is worth to them and should pay all future employees that amount. On the back end, when reviews are given, any person excelling at John’s position should be given a raise to get them somewhere within range of the new standard pay for the position.

Violation of the law of anti-hypocrisy has to end. Let’s start paying people fairly. If anyone, white man, black man, red man, method man, or orange man perform the same job, for the same organization, with similar or offsetting credentials (education, experience, certification, etc.), lets pay them the same. Let us govern our pay scale as they do in the NBA, NFL, FIFA Soccer Leagues, etc. If a starting quarterback at the top of his game negotiates a record contract from his team, it helps all the rest of the starting quarterbacks at the top of their game in the NFL. The same goes for NBA players and soccer players. Why should it be any different for INSERT OCCUPATION HERE?

Are there more good women out there than men?

In dating, it is said, “there are more good women out there than men”. I am inclined to disagree. Moreover, I look at this as a double standard of sorts. I believe men and women go through the same things from different perspectives. Unless you’re going to look at the literal number of men and women on the planet, and say “mathematically, men have more options out there than women”, and provide all the statistical analysis, SAVE IT. You find me a man who has left a woman because the relationship wasn’t good for him, and I’ll show you a woman who was in a relationship that wasn’t good for her.

See what I did there?

For whatever reason, when relationships don’t work out, it is because life has something else in store for all parties involved. Whether or not the very next person they talk to is an “upgrade” from the last, is irrelevant. Whether you feel like I should replace “life” in the previous sentence with God, or Karma, or the Universe, is also irrelevant. Facts are just facts, and to assume that men are the reason why relationships don’t work is only looking at relationships from one point of view. Men that are happy within their relationships, because they feel they can be themselves, come home to a place of peace, and have a partner and friend in the woman they love, do more to preserve their relationships than they do to destroy them. The previous statement would hold up, equally, if applied to women, and neither party within the relationship will be immune to mistakes.

I’ll leave you with one more fact. Honesty balances us. Embrace truth, in love. You know a person loves you when they know your honest, ugly truth, and they love you anyway. When you find someone who loves you that way…Hold on to them, make excuses for them to others, and tell them the truth about their ugly truth. Growing together, instead of growing apart requires honesty from the ones we love. The kind of honesty that gives us balance. Never settling for someone who doesn’t live up to your standard, or worse their own standard, doesn’t mean you run away. It means you block out outside distractions, lock each other in a room, and shine a spotlight on the issues to have constructive conversations, with the obvious intent to make each other better. To reject solutions in our relationships, is to embrace the problems in our relationships. Men and women are guilty of these sins against their relationships, and are equally unfit to be in them. Let’s stop saying there are more good women out there than men. It will be one less lie that we make our truth.

Timeout for the World

Three stories. What do they have in common?

The team is showing fatigue, there’s 11 seconds left in the game, and our opponent is only down one point. We get a costly turnover as the ball is mishandled out of bounds. “Timeout!” said the coach. Before the ball is back in-play, we have to clear our heads of the mistakes made in the last possession, because we cannot change the past. We may have to substitute tired players with players on the bench that are energized and motivated to turn the tide in our favor. We certainly have to lock-in defensively and use all our collective energy to protect our point advantage and secure the victory. You can bet that was coach’s reasoning behind the timeout call. You can bet that’s the message in the team huddle. You don’t even have to be on the team.

The class is making cards to send to the men and women of the armed services. The teacher has succeeded in getting everyone excited about the joy their cards will give to the men and women who protect our freedoms. One student can’t contain themselves and is running about with scissors in hand. “Timeout!” said the teacher. Before anyone gets hurt, the child needs to sit alone and watch the other children behaving as instructed. The child knows the class rules, but just needs to practice a bit more self-control. A few minutes in timeout is all a, usually well behaved, student needs to make the behavior adjustment.

The people of the world are so divided. It’s “every man for himself”, and the means are always justifiable if the price is right. Pollution and poverty, in some places, has never been worse. Mention the word “pastor” or “priest” and thoughts of greed, corruption, and pedophilia come to mind. Worldwide, similar skepticism and lack of trust exists for the elected official and the media. As the children grow older, more self-sufficient, and secure more wealth, status and success, the family is reduced to a band of moochers and are excommunicated, replaced with friends and business partners. Mankind is consumed by our greed and obsession for more wealth, fame, and all that comes with it, to the point that we don’t care what comes with it, or what it takes to obtain it. Some overeat daily, living a lifestyle widely documented as unhealthy, with no interest in doing better, while others are a picture of good health engaging in nothing that puts themselves at a disadvantage, even if it means helping someone less fortunate. Selfishness comes in many forms, and how creative we are at personifying it. “Timeout!” said the creator.

As selfish as we tend to be, most people have good intentions. We spend our time and energy chasing after wealth and opportunity, because it is what we were taught to do, because we want better lives for our children, and because if we don’t, we believe we won’t survive. If we don’t save ourselves, we don’t believe there will be anyone to save us. We don’t believe anyone will care if we don’t come up with the money needed to pay our debts. We live as though we are in this world alone. The timeout of this pandemic has caused many to realize that we are not alone. Suddenly, we are forced to acknowledge our global struggle. Creditors, Insurers, and other Service Providers are making concessions as they attempt to ease the shared burden of their customers. Many have concluded that we need to be more concerned with the lives and activities of others, because their troubles of yesterday can be our troubles of tomorrow. Air pollution is down, and nature is responding to our inactivity. We have had to face our respective health conditions and the vulnerabilities associated with our poor health choices. As we contemplate our mortality, people are returning to their faith and family. We are remembering who we really are, and we are evaluating how far off track we’ve drifted. The wrong information or directive can lead to death, and truthful information has never seemed so important from the podiums of our highest offices and professions. Sheltering in-place, we are forced to trust the word of our governments and scientists. Humbly, we depend on our fellow man to do the right thing to “flatten the curve” and prevent outbreak.

When the game-plan isn’t being executed as practiced on the court or field, the coach calls timeout to make adjustments and get the team back on track to avoid losing the game. When a teacher or parent places a child in time out, they intend to calm the child and give the child time to evaluate their actions, their parent’s or teacher’s expectations, and how the two are not aligned. When unexpected circumstances in life cause you to stand still or prevent you from going about your life as you wish, sometimes, that’s God’s way of placing you in timeout. Whether it be loss of work, illness, near death experience, or death of someone you love. There are things that happen that give us pause. We begin to contemplate our mortality, our life’s purpose, our habits, our choices, and how it all ties together. If we’re honest, we don’t always pass our own self-evaluations. Our habits don’t always align with our goals or what we believe our purpose is, but should they?