Why Osiris Organization?

3/30/2010, Elementary & Middle School Years, Value System Set, My Aunts

Aunt Ida:

I’m not sure if my grandfather assigned my Aunt Ida the task of making sure I completed my homework and did well in school. Ida was his youngest daughter. Ida was a “warrior” type personality. Direct yet loving. There was no misunderstanding Aunt Ida. She meant what she said and didn’t care if it hurt your feelings. I knew she took her mentoring seriously. I had to put the work in or there was going to be a price to pay. Ida made sure after coming home from school I did all of my homework and read a half-hour everyday regardless of my homework assignments before I went out to play with my friends. Did she give my grandfather a progress report? I don’t know but the thought of facing my Aunt Ida was enough to keep me focused and motivated in school. Aunt Ida was like the Klingons in Star Trek when they conquered another race in battle. Take no prisoners! This was Aunt Ida!

While hovering over me many evenings and afterschool, one of the most profound statement aunt Ada made to me was, “Boy, learn to read, this is the key to getting a good education. If you can read there is no stopping how far you can go. Do you think Momma and Daddy are going to work everyday for nothing? They didn’t have the chance like we have today, they were denied the opportunities when they were young growing up in the South. They expect more out of us!”

All my friends in our inner city community had family members that truly cared for us. It was common during open houses at school that both parents attended and even relatives would come as well. My grandfather and grandmother sent Aunt Betty or Aunt Ida and they would report back to my grandparents. All of my friends took pride in getting good grades in school. Believe it or not there was always competition among the boys; who got the most A’s or B’s on report cards, who won the spelling quizzes that week. We loved sports but sports was not an obsession as it is today.

Aunt Ida had several kids herself while living with us, Gwen and Matthew. I felt like I was one of her kids. As the first grandchild of my grandparents , Aunt Ida made sure that I was not going to demonstrate any behavior that was different from our grandparents work ethic. During my high school years, Ida’s mentoring and discipline along with the love of reading, helped me excel in High School. Aunt Ida. Tough love. Much love.

As I reflect on my life during these present times, I remember the civil rights movement, hearing Dr. King speak as a young man, the speeches from Malcolm X, the Vietnam War and the protesting it brought, the stories of my aunts talking about Rosa Parks stood up for all of us when she refused to give up her seat and move to the “back of the bus”, and Mohammed Ali. I can remember Ernest and I talking about the importance of his conviction on not going to fight in the vietnam war warming up for one of baseball games.

For young kids, that was a “deep” conversation at the time. But we were aware of the social movements of the era. It was an era of fighting for equal opportunities and education. Very important to our generation. As young kids we knew the sacrifices our parents were making and we could see that in the civil right movement. Their struggle consumed us all.

This is why our parents and grandparents during the 60s made sure that “READING” was so important to their kids in our generation. It was denied to them for a variety of reasons previous but they made sure we were not going to be denied this important attribute!

It took my Aunt Betty to explain all of this to me that made sense!

Much love to my Aunt Ida! I often wonder what direction my life would have taken without her being in my life during those years?