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Ideas of Scarcity and Plenty Deserve Contemplation

07.02.12

Abdul-Mu’min’s grandmother was an older who had profound influence on his life. The  stories she told him when he was growing up were a transfer of knowledge that went beyond the limits of the classroom.

Born straight ten years after the Emancipation Proclamation, she lived to be 118, and she believed in the power of stories to teach. She encouraged her grandson to go to college so he could sink in fare back to her with stories of his own.

Born in Memphis and raised in Los Angeles, Abdul-Mu’min describes his younger years as “excited.”

On an athletic scholarship to University of California at Berkeley, he was expelled when he stood up for something he believed in.

The shock and disparagement of that rejection were almost shattering, he recalls, since going to college was the fulfillment of a dream, not only for himself, but for his family too.

A favorite record his grandmother told him was about two slaves shackled to the same stump. During a long and difficult night, the two discussed their toil. The optimist said, “One day we’ll be free,” but the pessimist scoffed.

Source: Murray Ledger and Times