Send it to the cemetary
“Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.” -Malcolm X
The value of self-defense is not limited to physical and political bullies.
Psychological freedom, much like physical and political freedom, requires vigilance.
If you’re not militant about your well-being, this world will knock the wind out of your sails, flatten you on your back, and grind you beneath its feet.
Assertiveness, contrary to popular misunderstanding, is not the enemy of kindness; it’s the bodyguard of kindness. It’s there to protect what others choose to neglect.
If an abusive or manipulative energy pattern manifests in your life, do the most dignified, democratic, and diplomatic thing you can possibly do: ANNIHILATE IT!
You’re nobody’s clown. You’re nobody’s tool. You’re nobody’s slave. You’re nobody’s punching bag. You’re nobody’s emotional sponge.
You’re a being of intrinsic nobility. Honor all, but take shit from none.
Joan Rivers brilliantly quipped, “If God wanted us to bend over he would put diamonds on the floor.”
Do. Not. Bend. Over.
Adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards all forms of invalidation and bow your head to no one who is unwilling to bow their head to you.
If it threatens to put an end to YOU, put an end to IT!
And for those who need me to state it explicitly, here’s my disclaimer and my two cents all in one:
Psychological vigilance isn’t about harming or killing people. It’s about getting rid of self-defeating patterns and self-negating perspectives.
It’s about looking at the elements of oppression that seek to be a part of your life and firmly saying, “let me help you die!”
Thank you TKC! Divine timing as usual! I love it! Namaste!
Thanks Jules! I appreciate that and am glad you like it.
Haha, I found this highly ironic considering the fact that I teach an underage self-defense class, and I am generally the punching bag. But a wonderfully inspiring post, I think I might use it in my next class session.
Thanks Emmy,
Good to hear from you. I’m not surprised to hear of you teaching a self-defense class. You’re brilliant.
Well thank you T.K. Good to be back and catching up on everything that I’ve missed. You’ve had some really good and inspiring post lately!
Wow! Wish I had read this 30 years ago!
Took me a while in my life to come to the
same realization. Only in recent years did
I see that subtlety does not work on those
trying to make you “bend over.” That only
bluntness works.
The bluntness of being “militant about your
well-being.” THAT speaks volumes!
I think reasonable people put up with too
much out of a respect for the laws of life,
goodwill, and hoping to get the same in
return.
In New York their motto is: “If someone
spits in your face, you don’t say it’s raining.”
Considering Malcolm X and his life and the
negative forces even within his own group,
and that he was assassinated, he did know
what he was talking about.
“Send it to the cemetery.”
Every line is worth repeating. Great post.
Reblogged this on Ontyre Passages and commented:
Too often in my life I’ve been a doormat rolled up to look like a punching bag.
Thanks for the appreciation and reblog 🙂 Cheers to being doormats no longer, my friend 🙂
Wow! Bravo!
Way to start with a great quote and take it farther, making it useful and helpful psychologically everyday. Abusive relationships, brief or long, cannot be tolerated. Send it to the cemetery. Back to the drawing board, to redesign it and resurrect it as a reciprocal, equal relationship.
Nice mantra. Another that I use: “I cannot be your master and I refuse to be your slave.”
Thanks for a great post! Cheers!
Thank you Thank you 🙂
I love that mantra you shared too. I’ll have to use that one.
Cheers!
From the bottom of my heart, “Thank you.”
Hi Emmy,
Was going to answer your post on anger
from 3-4 months ago? Then my business
got very hectic and I didn’t see your name
until now.
You challenged my point about men having
more problems with anger than women and
I think you’re quite right.
As I thought about it, perhaps we are used to
seeing more men express their anger (some
inappropriately) but most women are taught
that it is not a appropriate. So women may
have as many (or more) problems with anger.
(Explicitly or implicitly.)
Either way looks like both genders have learned
some erroneous attitudes about this. (And other
emotions.)
There were other points that you brought up but
will hold off for now.
Regards, Alana 🙂
Hello Alana!
I don’t seem to remember this conversation, but if you know the name of that particular post, I would gladly reread it and refresh my memory of the topic.
And don’t worry about getting back to me so late, I haven’t had a computer for a while, so it’s perfectly alright.
As far as what I do remember of the subject, I agree that both genders have learned erroneously.
Cheers,
Emmy
Hi again Emmy.
The original post was from Dec 2/2012!
Further back than I thought. No wonder
you don’t remember it. Eek! I thought it
was more recent. I was much busier than
I realized.
The post was “When you lose your cool,
you lose.”
Glad to see your computer is back.
Hello once more Alana!
I’ll look for it! And I’m glad that my computer is back, I seemed to have missed so much!
Thank you Alana!
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