Destroy & Rebuild...then expand

Sometimes I wonder why did MOST of the great black leaders of our time had to be imprisoned. I've always wondered that, especially when I was younger and read The Auto-Biography of Malcolm X. Not to mention to listen to my family,teachers, and elders talk about how Rosa Parks went to jail for a WHOLE race (I know that's controversial ). But as I dissect the confines of my mind for accumulated knowledge, I realize that most (if not all) of my "heroes" have all been incarcerated. For instance:

2 Pac...
A man says his records never went platinum till he got a record. By record I mean rap sheet and by rap sheet I don't mean pertaining to music. After his release from prison we've all witness a different Tupac, a more focused Tupac. Some say his music wasn't transcendent from his old 2pacalypse persona but more "gangsta". In my own opinon I think 2pac learned a great deal from those political prisoners and the value of words. Yes, 2pac always had the 'Thug Life' tattooed on his stomach but after his release from prison he came up wit a accronym for it. He gave Thug Life a meaning other than the obvious on the exterior. The Hate U Gave Little Infants Fuck Everybody! That acronym speak volumes, as do the actual word 'Thug Life', it scares you sub-consciously. Kinda like when NWA came out and publicly said it stands for Niggaz Wit Attitudes.
Upon 2pac's release he recorded some of his BEST material ever in a short amount of time. besides it seemed as if he had "known somethin'" and wanted for us not as fans but as black people to come together and be part of his "plan".
Guys in my age group always argue that we have no black leaders in our generation but, they NEVER realize that 2Pac was the closet person to black leader/activist since Malcolm X who spoke our story...And that's why we call'em nigga, I betcha.
note: you can't feed a baby steak. you have to feed babies baby food and gradually move to solids.

Malcolm X...
This is one my favorite people whom I've never got a chance to experience. His words were profound and his actions spoke louder. No, he wasn't a Black Panther who constantly spoke on politics and socialism, but he spoke on our politics and how WE play with the hand we were dealt. Malcolm or El Hajj Malik El Shabazz after his pillage to Mecca, discovered to true meaning of Islam (which is peace). We'll never know what Martin Luther King Jr. & Malcolm X spoke about on the day they finally got to meet. But one thing we do know is after that pilgrimage he had Understanding. I capitalized Understanding cause that is secondly important to the growth of man, first theres Knowledge.
Malcolm obtained the Knowledge from prison which he converted to the Nation of Islam. The Nation opened Malcolm's eyes in a sense, and so ironically he would have NEVER known about his true self as a black man if it was'nt for The Nation or prison. I ask myself why did he have to go to prison to find enlightenment? Was it part of God's divine order to have him go through purgatory like Jesus in order to be "reborn"? I find that ALOT of people I know how were imprisoned come back out on the streets more educated in knowledge of self. Not to say they DON'T revert back to their old ways but they all have that "30 day eye of the tiger", in which they're eager to teach people of the knowledge they obtained while incarcerated. I say 30 days cause then reality sets in. Jobs get to doin' background checks, you get to witnessing they money bein' made illegally, and bacon starts to smell good.
All in all prison have helped some of the worst of us, but I can't seem to figure...Why do we have to go through persecution to move ahead spiritually, physically, and mentally? Every religion has that same theology. Destroy & Rebuild.

There's a whole list of celebrities and influential people who were once jailed. I just hope I can break this cycle I keep witnessing by informing the youth about the justice system and the prison system and how to avoid it WITHOUT takin' a cop out by sounding too preachy and say "go to school & find a job"...

-drop a jewel- & some random rambling-
When Erykah Badu says "my cipher keeps rolling like a rolling stone" alot of people didn't "get" that. Cipher represents a circle, and cipher also represents complete, so do a circle. So from 1)knowing or wanting to know, 2)understanding that of what you wanted to know, and 3) having wisdom about what you've learned is a complete cipher. That would be 360 degrees and your circle (or cipher) keeps rollin' when you keep wanting to Know. If you noticed, everything revolves in cycles (or circles).
For instance: planets revolve around the sun.
your respiratory system works in a cycle (or cipher) you breathe in your nose and out your mouth.
your digestive system: you eat to nurture your body and excrete the toxins, those same toxins fertilize the plants of which bear the fruit from which you've ate.
Even in the "life ecosystem" we are trained to go to school and get a job then die old. So harshly put, but that's life. Now living is the parts in between that story, the "chapters" as I would put it. And just like a a book you start from the cover and read to the cover. I hope to make my story a vibrant one from all of my dark moments, and from the law of the universe I should be granted that. Unfortunately alot of our "stories" are short, and alot of "books" are paperback and thin much like a magazine - full of false advertisements. I will like to make my life NOT a encyclopedia, but a novel with vibrant photographs. This site lets me "index" my thoughts. With that said, this is just a list of "table of contents".