The Kwanzaa Effect (Kuumba)

Huey: "Grandad, what do you do when you can do nothing but there's nothing you can do?" Grandad: You do whatcha can". "You do whatcha can" Wise words from grandad. That is the essence of Kuumba. Kuumba is defined as creativity in regards to Kwanzaa. The principle says "To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it." The work that you do matters. If you believe that what you do isn't really anything significant. Well, somebody lied to you. Shame on you if you told yourself that lie. God Himself fused us with the ability to utilize creativity. Creativity the ability to mimic the Creator. It is taking something present and presenting it in a useful or better form. For example using wood from a tree and making a table or seeing something beautiful and being able to describe it in words. In comics, creativity is something that is often thought about from a writer and art standpoint. However, since this is a Black comic book blog, what about characters that use creativity? Moon Girl aka Lunella Layfayette comes to mind. She's the smartest person in the world. She's also an inhuman and she's merely a child. However, she also pals around with a dinosaur with which she shares consciousness with. Her mind has the capacity to create gadgets and things that help her fight her enemies. She is seen as a hero for young girls who aspire to STEM fields and careers. Her power however is knowing everything and not learning. She is like the kids who are very smart but get nothing out of the educational experience because they are just beyond that. It can deduced especially in this generation that education is antiquated. I like the rapper Propaganda's poem "Bored of Education" It speaks to inability of the governance to govern education effectively. Nonetheless I digress.

Are we doing as much as we can? So that if we are called away from the plane of existence we have left the world a better place? Our desires must to think better and do better. It is the end of the year and many folks are thinking back on the year. I know personally I felt like I did not do my best. We as a collective have challenge ourselves to use our creativity to help someone. We have to push past our intellect into spaces of faith and risk always believing that we are trying our best to right the ship. In the Boondocks episode called the "Hunger Strike", Huey goes on a hunger strike against the programming of BET. His efforts were valiant but the leader, Rev. Goodlove, he was rolling with sold him out. Riley and grandad laughed at Huey but they respected his efforts. After being let down by Goodlove, he is saddened and asks his grandad what should he do when he could do nothing. It is probably the wisest thing grandad has ever said in the show. "You do whatcha can". Never stiffle your creativity. Do this, and the world you live in will be blessed by your labor. -Richard J Wright