EP29 - Moving Forward with Purpose pt2

Hosts Frank and Farida delve into the importance of discipline, obedience to the Creator, and the role of family in achieving true freedom. They discuss the implications of hookup culture, the significance of family life, and managing human resources responsibly. Historical and religious contexts, such as the African American experience and Islamic teachings, are explored to underline the necessity of moral strength, disciplined living, and community-focused resource management as pathways to fulfilling human potential.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:37 Fitness and New Beginnings
02:58 The Concept of Freedom and Obedience
07:26 The Salt and Pepper Shaker Analogy
15:04 The African American Experience and True Freedom
25:15 The Role of Family in Society
43:11 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

This podcast is about family life as a means to address current problems in American society. A scripture based African American perspective. 

Welcome to The Family Ties, a Prescription for Society.
 Through this experience we invite you to join us in an exploration of the concept of family ties as a prescription for society.
 
 YOUR HOSTS:  Frank Abdul Shaheed &
 Faridah Abdul-Tawwab Brown
 
 This episode was edited by Darryl D Anderson of AMG - Ambassador Media Group visit https://www.ambassador-mediagroup.com/
__________________________________
Music Credit
Back Home by Ghostrifter Official | https://soundcloud.com/ghostrifter-official
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Copyright 2024

Transcript

Frank: 0:16

Peace be upon the family, as we welcome you to another experience of The Family Ties, a prescription for society. I am your co host, Frank Abdul Shahid.

Faridah: 0:27

And I am your co host, Farida Abdul Tawab Brown. Before we get started, don't forget to subscribe so you can stay up to date and get all the latest episodes.

Frank: 0:37

Welcome back to our Second part of our conversation, talking about our moving forward with purpose. You know, we want to continue to discuss whether or not we are fit to handle the responsibility of carrying the burden of living up to our promise of our creator. And using these resources that we were greatly benefited with to able to lead our society in a way that takes us to our best. Expression and our best conclusion. So in a previous episode, we were talking about what are the influences that have come in and have disrupted us or taken us away from our understanding of what being fit meant. To be able to handle these resources and you mentioned fitness and which makes me think about something very quickly was as we going into this fall, winter season, this holiday season, oftentimes people are Trying to reconstitute themselves to understand that I'm coming to an end of something and a new beginning is coming. January 1st for us is the new year. So oftentimes gym memberships go through the roof. We try to physically put ourselves back in a good, healthy situation. We try to make our bodies able to carry the burden of, of life. And, you know, and we just, you know, want to, Have a better existence for the new year, the new existence, the new start the Genesis, if you want to want to use that term for our dedication and our declaration for our self determination to be the best form of ourselves. So I know as we're coming up on these holidays and people decide, this is my last hurrah. I'm just going to go out, you know, in a flame of glory. And then at the, at the end of that, I want to. Start fresh again and say, hey, you know, I'm ready. I'm ready to discipline myself and handle these levels of responsibility. So you know, we look at this time of year as that time to really recalculate and recalibrate. So welcome back, sister Florida. Thank you. I am wonderfully appreciative of being here. And you may hear some of the sounds of nature in my background. We have some type of whooping animal bird or something. It's making its presence known and felt. So you know, he or she is part of this conversation as well, if you hear. But what, what I, I, I think you're, your anecdote about the holidays and the new year and this idea of, of getting fit. And when we have this conversation about fitness, I think that's pretty apropos, especially because we left off in our previous conversation around the idea of, of, of freedom, meaning obedience and in particular obedience to, to God, obedience to the creator. And for those who have our still seeking and are on a path to understanding who the creator is and what one's relationship should be with him. I think that the term fitness is, is kind of appropriate here because what we're looking at is when you look at the design of the human being, And I, I think it's wonderful that you brought up you know, the, the fitness aspect because there are things that create a healthy environment in which the, the human body can fulfill the purpose for which it was designed. And if it cannot fulfill the purpose for which it is designed, then that creates some type of of imbalance. or you know, a lack of ability to completely fully function as a human being. And so when we look back at the idea of fitness to carry this heavy responsibility of freedom, and whether or not freedom entails obedience, I think looking back at the creation and the design of the human body leads us to our answer. And that is that the, We will not be free to use our muscles if we don't obey the principles upon which muscles are designed. If we don't put stress upon them in a, in a, in a balanced way so that they can grow. If we put too much food in our bodies, then we develop an excess or we increase our, our fat cells. And we put other stressors on our bodies, you know, such as diabetes and, you know, influence and impact on the pancreas and, and blood pressure and other things of that nature. So the freedom to reach the full potential can only be found in obedience to the design or the designer. So when so obeying the designer requires a certain amount of discipline and knowledge in understanding what is the design and what are the principles by which this design is going to allow me to to reach my full potential. And so that's what, what I would say in response to the question, you know, I, I raised the, the the question that some of our listeners may have had when you said that freedom is obedience to God or is obedience. And I said, that may sound oxymoronic or even paradoxical to some, but I think it's in the recognition. We speak a lot about The destination excellence. And we have a destination that the human being is trying to strive to, to arrive at. And that involves fulfilling our potential as human beings. But the only way to fulfill potential is to obey the designer of that potential. And in therein, is the freedom. So once we make the choice, there's always freedom to acknowledge that designer, to obey that designer, to obey the principles that the designer has written into the creation, including ourselves. And so in that there's an ultimate freedom to choose that. But once we do choose that it's in following the guidance from that creator that we are ultimately able to fulfill our potential. Absolutely. You know, I like to use a lot of examples that are not necessarily readily in front of us to draw the parallels to show that the concept is a very universal concept. So I like, I like drawing a lot of pictures, you know, and I've even had a little bit of, of art. In my background as well, never pursued it to the way I really wanted to, but you know, art and drawing was something that was already naturally had a natural infinity for I worked for a company who revolutionized the concept of processes. An industry and they were so impactful that every other company in that same industry took what they had to use it as a model for them, for their levels of success. So I've raised this question or even painted this picture or gave it given this example. And I said this, imagine you created salt and pepper shakers. And that was the design that you created them for, and they worked completely how you designed them to work and they gave great benefit and, and it was perfect. Now, imagine you emptying out the salt and pepper shakers, boxing them up and shipping them to a place where no one has ever seen salt and salt and pepper shakers before. And they now have to engage the salt and pepper shaker to find his benefit in this use, whether they follow the plan of the original inventor of the salt and pepper shaker and get the most out of that salt and pepper shaker, or will they not? Reach its completion or fulfillment of what the purpose of that salt and pepper shaker. And the answer would be no, they won't get the most benefit out of it because they didn't design it. So they have no idea what that is. So even if it's an intentional or unintentional use of the salt and pepper shaker, still, they don't have the knowledge of what the design of the salt and pepper shaker was. So I use that as a, as a parallel to us. As a human existence and our designer, our fashion, our creator, having a design for us. And in that design, it gives us the optimal performance of what we're designed to do and to take us to our logical conclusion. So anything outside of that. will diminish our optimal purpose in life. You know, if we guess there's a possibility, we may hit that target, but it's really only a guess, which means that it's not even in our determination, conscious determination to take us to the destiny. So we have to use outside forces and we hope it helps us get to the destiny. But if we follow the instruction of our creator, then that frees us to have the optimal expression that we want. So Discipline is one of the principles of staying fit. You have to be fit to be disciplined and the discipline is a pathway for us to get to where we want to go in our processes. So so once again, our Obedience to our creator opens up our greatest freedom and in that freedom, we're able to be self determined and in that, the self determination, we're able to understand what freedom looks like in our self determination. So that way in that picture, we have the most freedom. So is freedom built upon other freedoms built upon other freedoms with the same interest of freedom from the beginning, from the beginning of our processes. So the oxymoronic. Picture of freedom being obedience in our world today, specifically when we're talking about the hookup culture and being able to just have unbridled freedom. Of course, people look when I look, look on that and say, Hey, that doesn't make sense to me. And one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies, I would say Uncle Ben, Uncle Ben said to Peter with great responsibility, but great freedoms come great responsibilities. Thank you, uncle. Be well Thank you Uncle Bette. So I'm assuming that's Spider-Man. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So no, but in, in all seriousness, mm-Hmm, you, you hit the nail on the head. And I think as you said we are living in a time when the, the mere mention of obedience. discipline outside of the context of the securing of material wealth, right? So we will hear a lot of conversation about discipline when it comes to hustling, making money, getting out there, being on your grind, getting up every day at a certain time, working on your physical fitness, as we've referenced earlier, working on your financial fitness. But that same concept becomes an undesirable one. When it comes to reining in the impulses, the, the lower urges or the desires that bring together human beings at the physical level which is just reflective of a greater responsibility and a greater fulfillment of purpose that comes in productivity of the meeting of, of two complementary beings so that they can be productive or and creation so that he or she can be productive. And so that that idea of the moral compass, the moral strength, the moral imperative, of being alive and well in our community is inextricably linked with the the ability to discipline oneself according to the design and the guidance of the creator. So going back again to the hookup culture, we're going back again to the basics. This is going somewhere. This conversation for our listeners we may be beginning with this, but this is about how we discipline ourselves and make ourselves, or as Frank is saying, we are already fit, but we are maintaining that fitness or nurturing that fitness, or as I would, you know, promote, we're making ourselves fit for the responsibilities of freedom and self determination. We have to accept discipline and obedience. And so going back to the idea of hookup culture, which threatens you mentioned a word you know, whether or not this benefits or works toward the, the ultimate goal. Well, the freedom is in its very essence. the ability to reach one's fullest potential. And what we're talking about both on an individual level and as the human family to reach the potential for which we were designed. If, if we can accept that that is an aim of freedom or a a function of freedom, then I would say that looking at hookup culture, this weakens the, it weakens the human being and the human family by taking the resources, the human resources that are, that are meant to be coalesced around a common purpose and to produce with a common and shared purpose. It's taking that that function and it's, it's, it's it's dis it's dispersing it outside of that unified, common, shared. responsibility. And so we have to begin to accept. moral responsibility for our own personal lives and for the impact that it has on the community around us. We will not be successful as long as we are accepting the prevailing ideas of the time. And so I would say that if we want to move with purpose, if we want to accept that the world may not look the way we want it to, and that we are charged with remaking that world as part of our essential function as human beings. Then we have to accept responsibility for obeying the, the principles. Which take our resources and make them beneficial and, and make them efficient as opposed to wasting them and dispersing them where they won't be beneficial. Yes. And I want to kind of go back a little bit to add a little bit more context to what you just said. You mentioned in the previous podcast about a group of people being stripped. And taken away from their good nature, their humanity, in a sense and, and oppressed and suppressed and, and just completely almost eliminated from the existence of man on this earth, but yet out of that. Experience comes a new mind becomes a new people. It's a rejuvenation. It's a rebirth is a resurrection in a sense for mankind to see its purpose once again, and that this is the pathway to take us to the conclusion that we were created to be, you know, we were denied material existence. We were denied spiritual existence. We were denied everything. But yet all of that was restored back to us. for joining us. In the freedom of the mind being produced. And then that mind is not the mind of a man just, just wandering around and in society and creation, and all of a sudden come into a conclusion. It was the nature of that particular body that was introduced to, to scripture itself. It, it fit itself. It put itself in a position where it was ready to accept the compliment To guide it to its conclusion. And we see the African American situation, especially through the Peculiar Institute of chattel slavery, how that has fit made us fit to be able to handle the responsibility ultimately with a moral foothold that the world has lost morally, because in an immoral act. We were slaves through to do an immoral act, and it was even degraded even further by stripping us of our humanity. So when we come back and we talking about being able to handle this freedom and understand what freedom truly looks like, then the African American is an example of that true freedom. So now. What is the goal of the African American in that freedom? What does that look like for us? What are the steps that we need to take on that pathway for the world to see that this is the sign of true freedom for man on the, on this earth? As I said, it's, it's a moral disposition towards engaging relationships, engaging the environment and engaging our own best selves. To be able to produce, and we talked about that mind and that mind is designed to manage society, manage these resources. So for those who want to study humanity, you cannot come to this logical conclusion that. God does not favor his servant without looking at the African American, which should suggest to you that God does favor the servant and makes the servant have a a natural urge for him to seek God himself, which means that you are opening yourself to levels of obedience. So so yes, this circumstance that we see in the world today, we play a major role in the remedy. Of, of getting rid of this levels of confusion and anxiety and frustration and, and, and being able to discern when an influence comes into our environment, that we have a remedy for the concern versus giving ourselves to that that influence and ultimately the destruction of mankind himself. You're making me think and, and. What I'm thinking about now is the help. Yes. Right. What, what is the help? We, I, we've identified that we have to be free from prevailing thinking ideas that, that take us out of or, or distort the best picture. And you, you spoke specifically about the, the promise of God and what he will do and what he has done in, in light of the experience of the African American people. And so I would say that part of. The help that we're given are signs, you know, in scripture, we're told to look at signs. They're the signs in Revelation itself and also the signs in the creation around us. And one of the helps that we're given is in the Qur'an, we're told to go and study The civilizations that came before us study what has happened. We are there. There's a very heavy emphasis placed on understanding and knowledge and knowing the, the, the history and the stories that form societies. And so. One of the things I would say is that we've and we're also exhorted to look at our own creation. And so here, not only are we looking at our own creation in terms of the design of the physical human body and the individual human being, but also looking at the design of a people themselves. And so we're looking at a story of a people up from slavery. We're looking at a story and we say, where is the help in that? Well, the help is in recognizing that coming up from slavery Our ancestors, those men and women who were freed from chattel slavery they went to scripture. They went to guidance to say, how do I secure this freedom? How do I secure this ability to to be self determinative. How do I secure this ability to fulfill my purpose intellectually, materially, spiritually emotionally? How do I do that? Well, they went to scripture. These are, they looked and they went to reunite their families. They went to establish their relationships as, as married couples. They went and did that. They wanted it to be officially recognized that they were obeying God and Securing the interest not only of themselves But of their offspring to have the best chance at fulfilling their potential and you'll see examples of that over and over and over Again in human history and in particular in the story of our people and so even before the Emancipation came officially. If we look at, there is a a personality who is well known in Al Islam. And this was at the very beginning of the establishment of the religion. And this is a person, his name was Bilal ibn Rabba. And he was a companion of the Prophet Muhammad. Prayers and peace be upon him. This man was an Abyssinian today known as Ethiopian. He was a slave. They are in the society among the Quraysh and he heard the message of one God and that Muhammad prayers and peace be upon him was his messenger. He heard the resounding and fundamental, fundamental message of, of human oneness and of human excellence and of the nobility and dignity of man that was given through our father Adam. And while he was still enslaved. He witnessed that there was only one God. He accepted that his purpose in life was to serve the Creator, and through that, and that alone, would he find the freedom to pursue and fulfill his, his potential as a human being. He did that while still enslaved. And it's a story that, that young Muslim children learn all over the world. There's a scene where Bilal's owner, his master, places a rock on his head. his chest in the hot desert sun, and he's, he puts up one finger, one God, he will not worship the, the, the, the many gods of his master. He chooses for himself, no matter the consequences, he chooses for himself the worship of the one God. And, and. following in that, recognizing his freedom and his ability to act fundamentally. And so I would say we look at our ancestors hundreds of years later, and we look at even when they were enslaved, they were going into the earth, going into their limited knowledge of scripture. They're going into their recognition of the human entitlement to family and connection and and excellence and teaching themselves to read and worship together and to build connections when their families were torn apart. These things were done in the bowels of slavery. So what I'm saying is, if we look back at that history, we will find the help that we need in this confused and anxious time to say, obey The signs that the creator has put in both our material reality and in the help that he's given us in revelation. If we want to have strong families, if we want to have young people who are confident in their ability to make change in the world, that starts first within the confidence they find in a home of two parents that are committed to them, of an extended family network that gives them a sense of self and a legacy upon which to build and a concerted concentration of human potential. That means by. man and woman committing to one another and producing within that union. Nothing short of that is worthy of the goal of fulfilling human potential. We have to do that. If we don't do that, we are succumbing to forces that weaken ourselves. They put a strain on, on relationships between men and women that we are seeing right now. We are reaping what we've sown by embracing an ideology that the world has given us. So I, I say that the, the help lies in obedience to God, the freedom lies in obedience to God. And with specific regard to this hookup culture, we have to deny it. We have to reclaim the thing that reaffirms and strengthens our discipline, our ability to concentrate our resources where they belong so that they can live on and on for generations. Yes. You know, one of the things that we struggle with in this podcast is to introduce language that When you hear it, you know, it's, it's talking about levels, many levels. It's not just talking about one thing. And that's, and that is by definition, what universality means. It means that it can be applied on many levels and many applications. And that's something that we, we have definitely struggled on this podcast to make sure that we use the best language to. Paint these pictures to our audience, to let them know that we don't want to just take one thing and just keep it to itself. It has to be universally applied because that is the measure of whether or not it is true. So when we look at the society that we're living in today, where it is so chaotic, we don't know what tomorrow looks like. We don't have any securities or any assurances that tomorrow. Will guarantee us a good future. We're at that point now in society, in America and throughout the world. So the question would, would be asked to the person who's thinking, who's reflecting and taking a moment to want to assess their environment. How do I exist in a world tomorrow that looks like it may end today. And if this new world comes in, well, I have some level of influence or foothold or some type of anchoring to be able to live in a new existence. And this, and this is the mind of the person who was, who was reflective. This is the sensitivity of a reflective person. So, so having this, these thoughts, you have to now. Reassess the influences of the world today. So we mentioned this hookup culture that pretty much cuts you off at your knees. If you want to use that term from your future, it cuts you off for the desire of having unbridled freedom, this influence of freedom is undisciplined, unchecked, unbridled, because you, because in that expression, you're thinking you're having your best life, but it doesn't, it cuts you off from a good tomorrow. And as I mentioned. The circumstances of the world today, give us the picture that they won't be a secure tomorrow. So, so what does the intelligent person do exactly what you said? We, we should do family life. That's what secures us in chattel slavery in America. That's what secured them family life, having the sensitivity to understand that that was the most important thing. That was a recognition in them that opened themselves up to qualify themselves to have you. Guidance come to them at moments when they had no knowledge how were they able to get out of the circumstances to run to the North to escape, escape slavery? That was a disposition for their life to be free because they understood that our slave masters weren't giving us our freedom, this innate and inherent freedom. So guidance was given to them in a way that they understood that the mosque grew on the North side of the tree. How would they know that? Does that, does that even exist in Africa? Does that exist in Africa at all? That the moss grows on the north side of the tree. So how does a people taken out of a land and brought to a new existence know that this is help for them? Because their disposition opens themselves up for continuity and continuation of this particular existence. So in this society today, it's family life. Once again, back to family life, back to providing the resources for a healthy existence to be fit today, in order for us to carry the burden so that we can secure tomorrow, it is family life. It is making sure that my wife is secure in her femininity. To give her the expressions that she has to have to give to our children. So there's family, there's male, female relationships, there's parental and child relationships. She has to feel that her husband is getting the support he needs to get these resources. And that's what we have to get back to. We never left, we never left that by design. We were influenced away from that, but that's, We have to get back to that, to those pictures of our best life and our best family life. And that's only in family. So I concur with the conclusion as to what. The help should look like for us. And from that, we get these guidance come to us in the ways that our creator deems he needs to provide us the guidance. But until we have that disposition of a good moral disposition, then we're going to continue to suffer and have chaotic. Existence in a time where there needs to be someone who calls to the people back to the moral picture of what man's establishment needs to be. And that's freedom in its purest form, which is obedience. Well said. And I, I would only, I mean, I can only add on to that, that what you said about moving from this, this family picture or particular picture and for this to be applicable on every level means that it's, and for it to be universal is how you can recognize its truth. Yes. That this is a claim to truth. And so, what I would say about that is that the commitment, the disposition, which you referenced, this disposition that our ancestors had while they were enslaved, that that are. Our great great grandmothers and grandfathers had during reconstruction and during Jim Crow and the days that many of their rights were circumscribed. That it's this disposition that should lead us to be committed to securing family life in the manner that what, what, what is the. What is the pathway that can help us to to live and establish our lives in a way that rebukes the prevalent, the prevailing thinking in our society? Well, we can be committed to being family units that promote and support youth, young marriage. You know, a lot of times what we are, Asking people to consider what we're asking you and our listening audience to consider is that we are given not only ideas about hookup culture that, that make it, that influence us away from those Systems and behaviors that allow us to be at our most fit and be strong enough to carry out the responsibilities that we have. But there are also I would say complimentary ideas. within our society that also support this? What do I mean by that? We have ideas that are very popular about how and when we are to gain our education what our timeline should be like for securing material wealth and establishing ourselves in a I guess financially independent, you know, that would be the terminology that we use very often. But I think that what we have to do is be firm and committed in the very much the same way that our ancestors were when they read that moss on the north side of the tree and they followed that and they followed that north star and they followed it until they got to a place where they could establish themselves free from the threat of being you know re, re retaken into slavery, whether that was getting to Canada or, or, or one of the free states. But what I would say is that the commitment has to be strong enough that we are able to, to say no to a timeline that is forced upon us that says well, you know, you don't want to have children young and you don't want to, you know get educated and then maybe take some time to raise Children and then go back to the workforce. No, the most important, the fruit of our labors, the purpose for going to college and educating ourselves as men and women is the only acceptable. fruit of that labor that displays for our society that we have been successful is to establish ourselves in a career and to show evidence of success and matriculation in that. And I say that we have to fight back against that notion by establishing a norm that is based upon God's plan. And what that what that what does that mean? That means that the natural desires that that young men and women that all men and women, most men and women have is to be with each other. There's attraction. That's a powerful driving force to promote life and to keep life in a continuing on going on the continuum for success and the trajectory of manifestation of our of our ideas in our society. Society and our civilization. But what that means is we can't put that desire on hold for 10 years and tell people well, you know, daughter, son, you have to restrict those desires. Until you're well into your twenties, maybe even your thirties. You're responsible enough, you're positioned enough to now take a wife or you know, to join this, this man in, in matrimony. No, that's not the plan. That's an idea that was given to us, and it also doesn't mean that you have to limit or circumscribe your ability to reach your full potential intellectually, academically in terms of developing any skills or talents that you have. What it means is that you must recognize the moss on the tree and what it's telling you, right? If you, are you, are you supposed to travel during the day? And, and sleep at night when you're trying to get to freedom, or are you supposed to rest during the night at, I mean, rest during the day and travel during the night when you can see the light of the, the, the, the, the heavenly lamps, right? What does that mean? It means that, yes, my ed, should women be educated? Well, you just want our daughters to get married young and not be educated. Absolutely not. What it's saying is that you are educated. So finish your education work on your skills and your talents and the, the blessings that God has given you, but recognize that there are also other responsibilities that may need a certain time. In which you have to take advantage of those and then develop other skills at a later time. And one of those we addressed on a podcast episode many months ago is the, the reality of the, the biological clock that exists for women. So we can't keep putting off having children because we're establishing our career because ultimately we're going to get to the point where it's It's not going to be possible for us to have those children. So we're going to have to have very open and frank conversations about what it means to support younger marriages, what does it mean for family units to do that supporting, both financially and emotionally, for young couples, and what that means when we secure that interest. The, the, the interest that, that men and women have in one another, the drives that they have that are satisfied in one another and the legacy that that promotes and produces for, for the, the destination, reaching the destination. Yes. And I, I want to conclude with this because you mentioned biology and, and I, and I love it. I love biology. We, you know, we're all science scientists by nature. So just looking at the construction of the human body, the blood that flows through our bodies. Is a spirit of community development because it touches everything in the body that is a spiritual development, a community development that exists in our body. The heart itself is a valve that pumps this blood, which is a spirit. For community development. Now, the endocrine system, the lymphatic system, the nervous system, the skeletal system, the and all these systems that exist independent of every other system, but yet dependent on this community development. So you can have your own establishment. You can have your own freedoms. But unless these freedoms are, are moved in a spiritual and a community development system, then you don't have existence in that particular entity. So look at the human body and see how great the human body works. Because there's a collective community development that it goes on. Although each community looks different and have a different responsibility, but they're brought together by a community spirit. And it brought together by the community purpose to be work to work as one. So in these freedoms that we are searching for in these freedoms that we believe we need to have And in these freedoms that were given to us by our creator. What is our disposition and our body gives us a sign? That in our own biology, that this is the way these freedoms need to operate. And this is the expression in which they should present themselves. So biology and creation, once again, here is revelation upon our nature again, that it's always been there, but our disposition just hasn't been correct. Informing and us an opportunity to understand what the, what the revelation in nature on our nature has been for our, our success as people. So once again, God has, our creator has put right in our midst the answer to our, our situation. Yes. Yes. And you know, I, I just want to add on to that, you know, you were speaking about, we both spoke of the the applicability of a principle that its truth is universal. And so, you know, what we're talking about as you introduced in the beginning of this conversation was the management of resources. as an essential aspect of of accepting responsibility and, and having the freedom to fulfill our potential. And I think that one of those things is you were talking about how this was human resources. So we're talking right now, how do we manage human resources? Well, we manage them responsibly. We manage them with discipline, and we manage them with an eye toward the collective. The good of the collective, the family unit, right? My sexual desires are not there just to serve my individual needs or my own individual purpose. They're part of a larger purpose. So while they, they, do you understand what I'm saying? So we're talking about, yeah, so we're, we're, we're, we have to see ourselves in, in a larger picture. And so you can take the same idea about management of resources. What does that look like on a community level? We always talk very frequently about the, the, the circulation of the dollar. For example, in, in different communities and how many times it circulates in different communities and one of the one of the the, the to the dismay of, of many African Americans, we're, we're told that the dollar doesn't even circulate once in our community. So again, we're talking about, do we waste that? Do we disseminate, do we disperse our resources, or do we concentrate them in a way that takes into consideration the well being of the collective? If we have independent wealth, if we have individuals who have the, the, the disposition again, going back to the disposition, what is it that we need? that allows us when we're in a family to say, well, you know, my interest is not just my own. I have to discipline myself to put these resources at the, the the use of my family. Well, in the same way, we have to look at our material resources are also our human resources, our time, our energy, our talents, our skills. And we have to, Think about the collective. How is this going to be beneficial to my community? And then when we look at the family of man, even looking at the national level or the global level, we're looking at what our economic principles are. We be holding to principles of just capitalism or communism or socialism, or are we guided by a discipline that says, no, we're looking at the balance, right? That, that the charity spent on a family, the charity spent on the community the collective interest it. This is what drives our pursuit of individual wealth, right? We have to, we have responsibilities and concentric levels, layers of responsibility to ourselves, our families, our neighborhoods, our communities, our country, but all of that, that the drive is not for, for my, own individual self to be wealthy. The drive is so that I have enough excess to be able to feed it back into the well being of the community. So this disposition is alive and well in both the sexual interest, it's alive and well on the interest at the family level, the community level, and even the level of designing ideas for society like economic policy. So this is, this is a profoundly important conversation that I hope we'll be able to revisit again during the duration. And I, and, and we're also talking about the pathways. So those are just some of the things that I mentioned. Pathways support our, our, our, our young, our children getting married. At a younger ages and, and make sure that we're there to support them utilize our resources at a community level where we're not spending it outside on many different things, but we concentrate our resources and we spend them within our community, building up our community as we build ourselves. And then at the national level or societal level, we go and we look up and we come up with policies that meet the needs of the collective that don't just meet the needs of the individual, but they meet the needs of the collective. Well said, well said you know, these, these types of conversations are. There, there can go on for the, for the duration of man's existence with this podcast, we just want to make sure that we are addressing these, these sensitive issues and want to give pathways and give solutions and give, you know, steps towards us addressing these, these circumstances in man's life. That's troubled man all over the world. At all periods of time, but, but, but none like the times that we're living in today. So I would say farther that in our expression today, in this particular episode of podcasts, you know, we, we've given a lot of information and we hope that the our listening audience will, you know, take it consider. Consider this seriously and look for ways that they can create pathways where they are. And ultimately, as we mentioned before, to be able to come back together and we can discuss what has worked and what are the things that we need to give a little bit more emphasis on and how we can create those opportunities for others to be able to step in and show their levels of value from where their levels of sensitivity for us to have a better expression. So we hoping that this podcast will reach that goal for us. That's our aim. For the family ties, the prescription for society podcast. So I just want to thank our listening audience and thank my cohost for having such a profound love for the best of what our creator has created us for, and to keep us in that vision and keep us in that lens to make sure that we are working our way to destination excellence. Absolutely. Yes. I can add nothing more to end to that statement. Yes. Well, Farda the praise is for God, our Creator, our Evolver, our Provider. We have moved one step closer to that destination excellence. Until next time, let us remain conscious of our Creator, of the sacred relationship of parent and child, and of the family ties that That bind us all. Subscribe to the podcast and come back next time for a new episode of The Family Ties from Frank Abdul Shahid and Farida. Abdul Tawa Brown. Peace. Peace be upon, be upon the family, the family.