You Don’t Have to Dread To Be Rasta
Can i first and foremost just say - Welcome to my blog - to anyone reading or simply stoping by to check it out. SHARE if you like the vibe.
I man vibe! As this is my first entry I thought I would cease the moment and shed light on who I am and what this blog is all about, what i aim to accomplish. So My apologies for the LENGTH of this one - never again. The web is already so clogged with bloggers propagating the same old things, entertainment updates, movies, girls, from the latest buzz and intricate details about celebs and their private lives which they’d probably rather keep so, to random news about random people and the random things they do day by day. Well if that’s what you seek buddy this ain’t it. So you can flip the switch, close the tab, or just go back to my homepage and check out something else. But it might be of better judgement to read on.
The name is SammyBritish and I am a CitiRasta. I believe strongly that individuals have an innate intimate responsibility to themselves and a social responsibility to others; friends; family or strangers you come across; to seek knowledge and educate, acquire resources and disseminate them, actively contribute to the development and betterment of their neighborhoods - communities - countries - the world. The condition of our existence at present is no better than the crude relations shared between animals along a food chain driven by brute instinct, existentially bare and deplorable. If not for the exalted possession of reason, which separates us from beasts, moral or ethics, what then makes us human? if not to be humane.
In the absence of compassion there can be no peace.
Rebels or Righteous, I especially admire the Rastafarian community. Yes the the Rasta man or woman. You know the ones with the long knotted hair, dreads, who believe Haile Selassie or Ras Tafari Makonnen, then Emperor of Ethiopia, is the Messiah. Before I go any further let me just say I am no expert in these things. These are expressed how I see it and should not be taken as gospel. So before you offer your insights, thoughts or opinions on the information I have here, do yourself a favor and Don’t. My use of any thing here is simply to get a message across and if you get bogged down with the details or metaphors, which are mere adornment to the subject at hand, YOU WILL MISS THE POINT. Now with an objective eye - Dig this. To me, the Rastafarian community, share strong beliefs in the upliftment of the human race and an invigorating energy of activism towards the plight of everyone around them regardless of who these people are, where they are from, what the Rastas think about them, or what these people think about the Rastas. This is the true definition of unconditional compassion. Regardless of what I might think about the rest of their ideologies or practices or religion, this is the quality of the Rastafarian that impressed upon me most. And it is on this premise that the idea of the neo rasta - CitiRasta was born. Citi - as in city -> urban -> new -> nontraditional.
Arguable, or not, to me it is this unconditional compassion that we as a race (HUMAN race) seem to lack, or refuse to enact. So many times over do I see individuals and nations speak about PEACE and FREEDOM and HUMAN RIGHTS and AID and so on and so forth. Yet there seem to be a great disparity between the vast numbers of areas in the world that truly require these basic human treasures and the places that actually get the help securing it. Does the coincidence seem probably, that all the places or people that do get help, aid or wars fought for their freedom, by world powers, are the same nations or people who in some regard, are, have been, or have the prospect to become, allies, supporters, providers of services, goods and information, strategic set pieces, to the same world powers that help them? While in the same light none of these other nations or people, or so few that its is negligent by comparison, who fail to fit these before listed criteria, receive the same attention.
Surely these are issues larger than me or any one person and rather require a whole world initiative. Still the whole is made of many small parts, millions, no billions, of people who singly contribute to what we are as the family of the human race. And even on this smaller scale we fail. But this is an easier fix. You might not have the capacity to direct the affairs of the state or sway the decisions of major corporations but you do have control over your own lives. How you carry yourself; how you treat others; how you honor or discontinue the legacy or disgrace, respectively, made by those before you; and what legacy you pass on to those who come after you. This is the aim of the CitiRasta Movement.
To explain: CitiRasta - Collective Involvement Through Individual Responsibility A Stronger ____ To Achieve. What fills the blank space is for you to decide. Whether it is your Self, family, neighborhood, community, city, state, government, country or world. Large or Small. IT ALL MATTERS.
And so in this fashion it is the aim of the blog and me the blogger to spread a positive message that will hopefully enlighten, uplift, and empower others to pass it forward. And remember, YOU don’t need to be a part of any special fraternity, or institution, religion, or any other group as a matter of fact, to be able to dispense charity and goodwill. If anyone says otherwise then it might be wise to keep them suspect. Though I must admit it does prove more efficient to reach a greater area and a larger number of people if more individuals are involved. But nonetheless you can stand, reach out, offer what you can, when you can, if you can, just the way you are. As in the words of the popular reggae song by Morgan Heritage -
“You dont affi dread to be Rasta...
This is not a dreadlocks thing,
Devine conception of the heart”
Change starts with YOU.
Until you are back again, have a great week.
Jah Bless.
CitiRasta Movement
