KNOW BETTER

I must admit, growing up I was always the child that found herself in some sort of trouble. Often times before committing some sort of foolish act, I knew that the results would be me getting into trouble, nonetheless, I declined to make the right choice and so I frequently had visitations from my mom and the belt (no abuse involved). Before my mom gave me my punishment, I often heard these words "YOU KNEW BETTER, but you did it anyway". I had no comeback or refute so I was left to deal with the consequences, which was in no way shape or form fun! I'd lay in my bed at night feeling sorry for myself and trying to come up with some sort of explanation of why I did what I did when the reality was, I allowed the foolishness to transpire even though I knew better.

Before I move on any further, I want to speak factually about the term "foolishness". The root word of foolishness is FOOL. The dictionary defines the term fool as a silly or stupid individual who lacks judgement or sense. To be foolish is the result of responding or acting out from a place that lacks wisdom.

I believe that as a child, it's more likely you'll find yourself being foolish due to the limitations of wisdom that children aren't able to access or comprehend, but as adults I believe being foolish or allowing foolishness is purely a choice.  As an adult,  I have been able to escape those unwanted visitations from my mother, however, not the unwanted visitations of life. Far too many times, I've encountered undesirable visits from life as a result of the foolishness I'd given access to my life. I don't know about others, but I can recall several accounts in my life where I knew the decision I had decided to make was one that would result in disappointment, shame, heartbreak, financial distress, etc, however I neglected to utilize this knowledge and ended up being the fool one too many times.

It's interesting that even as adults we still try and find ways to make sense of our foolishness or find someone or something to blame, when in fact our foolish decisions were well thought through. The problem with foolish thinking is it results in us abandoning and or acknowledging the consequences we will eventually face for foolish choices.  When we allow foolishness access to our lives, we abandon foundational morals that result in us pretending we don't know better. Earlier this week, I was engaged in a conversation with a few of my friends about the "side-chick revolution".  We chatted about how social media and many women in the entertainment industry have cosigned on this new revolution resulting in many more women finding it acceptable to be girlfriend or wifey #2. I commented on the fact that not even influential women in the entertainment industry are exempt from being played and in fact many of them have written songs about it as if there's real humility in staying in a relationship where your worth is not valued. It further saddened me hearing multiple perspectives, which goes back to the fact that when we accept and cosign on foolishness we abandon foundational morals. We live in a time where we are told we can live our lives however and with whomever we want, even if that person is married or has a significant other. We are told that our worth is defined by how much money we make, how thick out booty is, how light our skin is and how many likes we can rack up on our social media pages. Somewhere along the way, we have lost sight of the many prestigious women who have set the example of what it means to be a respected and virtuous women. We have accepted the foolish thinking that WE ARE OUR BODIES and we are free to explore them in anyway and with whomever we desire. IN FACT,  FOR SOME OF US OUR BODY COUNT IS SO HIGH ITS A MIRACLE WE ARE ALIVE...(IJS).

If we are so easily persuaded to reject WHAT WE KNOW, we will always fall victim to being and staying a fool. The danger with fools is that there is no truth in what they stand for. Many of their customs and ways are created from a selfish and self-centered place. Selfish and self-centered thinking often results in failure every time. At some point in time in your life you will have to acknowledge your foolishness one way or another. It makes no sense to seek wisdom and have the wherewithal to live a full like and end up a fool because you decided not to KNOW BETTER...

-Nique