Keep on Pushing!


"Keep on pushin'
Keep on pushin'
I've got to keep on pushin'
I can't stop now
Move up a little higher
Someway or somehow..." 

Many who remember the Impressions or Curtis Mayfield render their poignant renditions, "Keep on Pushin'" know the song carries social and spiritual import.  It motivates and challenges.  Coaches and mentors often invoke its declaration to urge younger charges to start and finish a project, program, or plan.  Especially since pushing often comes easier than pulling.  I tend to use less energy pushing a wheelbarrow across a rocky road than pulling a wagon filled with bricks up a hill.  The former can be done while the latter seems downright cumbersome.    It took years to understand that we can occupy various dimensions, the natural and spiritual among them.  Surely, however, I'm no  arbiter of "dimensions."

 Both Old and New Testament Scripture chronicles people and situations that required sustained effort.  Witness the Hebrew slaves who prayed to Jehovah for years to be freed from Egyptian bondage.  Moses eventually confronted the Pharaoh with an audacious request, which he initially denied. Joseph faced his challenges and ended in triumph.  Joshua "fit" the Battle of Jericho.  David triumphed with five, smooth stones.  Job faced his challenges. while the fiery furnace could not consume Shadrach, Mesach, or Abednego.   Twelve timid disciples grew spiritual muscle after the power of the Holy Ghost strengthened them for battle.  Apostle Paul (nee Saul) persecuted, then protected, the Children of the Way (new Christians).  The Holy Bible teems with an epic history.  You get my drift? 

The message never to give up or to give in became ingrained in me: spirit, body, and soul.  Too, Sunday school lessons and Bible study help tremendously whether you're a child or an adult.  Still, it's hard.

"I don't know  why I have to cry sometimes,
I don't know why I have to sigh sometimes.
But there's gonna be a perfect day;
Trouble, get outta my way
I don't know why, but I'll find out by and by."

I have NO excuses, no matter how I preface it, not to persevere! A cursory examination of chained together Africans brought to Virginia in 1619 denies me any watered down or lukewarm, excuse-driven passive lifestyle.  Even if only learned through classic media like "Roots" or "The Underground Railroad. .. Even if snippets only gleaned of our rich history in North America during annualized Black History month celebrations...thank you, Carter G. Woodson...Even though revisionist history has distorted and dominated accurate American history... 

Even if all I can remember is one declaration by Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born Black nationalist: "A people without the knowledge of past history, origin and culture are like a tree without roots,"  that suffices to direct my endless push for the truth.

"I can't stop now
Gotta keep on pushin'"

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