Y'all Show Your Love as 5 and a Possible Present: Torrance Stephens. Check his blog here.
For many of you, it may surprise you that this black man here loves him some guns. Not just for the sake of violence or what they can do, but more so in the same realm as I do coins, stamps, baseball cards and beer cans. And albeit I am a second amendment fanatic, and love my SKS, as a weapon, they are no where close to what I would choose to, or select to engage in battle with.
My folk from the crib, Memphis will likely saw the ax or a hammer. True, I love me some axes as well as throwing them. But neither of these are my favorite weapons either. If I had my choice, most likely it would be my tongue or my pen, for words are very dangerous and seem to reflect the dialectical nature of the ruminations encapsulated with in the corpus of my mind. I can you words to maim, or cut and inflect damage just as I can a gun, rifle, ax or hammer.
Words for me are tools enhanced by my penchant for the written word as well as my voracious appetite for reading. However, these too are often moot and cannot exemplify what my heart and spirit is capable of. No neither weapons, nor words nor the pen are my preferred weapon of choice. What is my preferred weapon of choice you query? Kindness.
Kindness is the greatest and most debilitating weapon of all. For you see it is the reflection of the heart, soul and spirit. It enables one to create compassion in an environment of hate. It allows you to stand and smile even when bullets are directed toward you even if they are in the form of words.
The brother is boy genius: Torrance T. Stephens, PHD is originally, from Memphis, Tennessee. He attended Morehouse College where he studied, psychology, biology and chemistry. He received a master's degree in Educational Psychology and Measurement from Atlanta University and a Ph.D. in Counseling from Clark Atlanta University. He has participated in Post-doctoral experiences in Nigeria, Senegal and several other African contries working with Africare International. His research targets infectious disease and substance abuse risk among incarcerated populations. He is an author and has a novel, three books of short stories and a book of sonnets on the market. He has a book of plays and a book of essays coming out later on this year. He is the father of two and currently lives in Palmetto, Georgia, just outside Atlanta.
