In the Spirit of the Gracious and Compassionate
Creator of the Heavens and the Earth
The praise belongs to Allah, who created each and every one of us, nurtures us, and protects us. I thank Allah for blessing me with a life of purpose, a serious life, a life full of challenges to overcome, knowing that as long as I persevere I will either succeed and achieve my goals in this life or die in the struggle and return to Allah, who created me.
None of us created ourselves, and none of us chose our parents or chose what our home environment would be when we were born. Unlike so many who are born into poor African American families living in the ghetto, I had parents who encouraged the good things that I felt inclined to do, parents who did not insult and abuse me or my brother, who did not call us dirty names, parents who worked hard, struggled and saved, and were blessed by Allah to move out of the ghetto and into a better neighborhood in which my brother and I could grow and thrive. I thank Allah for my loving mother, Lulu Oleona Towe Knibbs — may Allah admit her to paradise. And I thank Allah for my loving father, Arthur Theodore Knibbs — who was blessed by Allah to continue living an active life and enjoying good health before passing away at 105 years of age. May Allah admit him also to paradise.
I thank Allah for the extended family relationships — uncles and aunts and cousins, a foster grandmother (Mama “B”, as we called her, who helped care for my brother and myself when we were little boys whose parents worked long hours) — a network of supportive, encouraging, and loving relationships, an environment of positive examples to identify with and say, within ourselves, “This is who we are.”
The African proverb tells us that “It takes a village to raise a child.” I am grateful that I had a small village of people who saw hope in me — teachers at P.S. 186 on West 145th Street in Harlem, men and women at the Harlem YMCA on West 135th Street, teachers and counselors and friends at the High School of Music & Art, and many others, and especially my piano teacher Eileen Southern. I am sure she was the one who planted in my nine-year-old mind the idea that I was going to go to Harvard.
The praise belongs to Allah. and I thank Allah for blessing me with A Serious Life
Read “A Serious Life — Part One”:
https://mynameislester.com/2021/07/08/a-serious-life-part-one/
17 Shawwal, 1441 / 28 Dhul Qadah, 1442
June 9, 2020 / July 8, 2021
Which Way Is Up? 