more civilized way of fighting to address my grievances[1]. Communicating with words instead of using force is a skill that I wanted to enhance. Although I had some early successes in district and state competitions, I knew that there were more skills to be learned in the communications field. Thus, I continued fighting to reach the national finals in speech competition. Later, as university professor on various campuses I have been able to coach[2] other student winners who happened to be black and white.

Our early elementary school teachers inspired in us the dream of even becoming the president of the United States. I held on to this dream for years, before realizing that first, I was not “pure” and untainted[3] enough. I did not have a life without blemishes[4]. At that time I had at least one failed marriage. Second, later the realities of life clearly demonstrated that my life had not been tainted enough. I would never be in the mainstream on the road to governmental leadership, nor was this goal now even desirable. For the past twelve years or so, I have been a simple world traveler and retired teacher, who does not want to become just another meaningless statistic. Nor do I want to be a destructive torch-bearer[5] seeking to burn things down. While some of my brothers have been incarcerated[6], I have not lost faith in positively affecting change. Yet, my continued small contribution to the cultural milieu[7] seems minimal. I still write hoping to access more networks to build bridges of understanding. I have not given up on the idea to open or create cultural channels for communications between groups in conflict with each other. This childhood dream lives on.

I believe that I have a purpose to contribute to the survival of mankind in some meaningful way. Within me is a hope that I can be some kind of ambassador for peace, serving the great family of brothers and sisters of the world in a way no other person can do or imagine. Writing poetry, academic textbooks, and classroom teaching are not enough. Running away from problems has also never been a lasting solution. I want to play a part on the world’s the problem intervention media stage to positively address issues of social harmony.[8] I am a citizen of the world, my life is not my own. I cannot be blamed for what the United States government has or has not done to my own communities of people: Native Americans, African Americans, and Citizens of the world. Today my dream remains to use my inner fires to bring “l(fā)ight” to others to help constructing a world with less fear, less anger, and perhaps less military conflict.

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[1]. grievance: 不滿(mǎn)，委屈。

[2]. coach: 指導(dǎo)。

[3]. untainted: 無(wú)污點(diǎn)的。