Parable of Pain

Parable of Pain

We sometimes look upon people from the outside only, never imagining what might be going on inside them, in the deep structure of their psyche, the pain and unresolved grief that may be lurking there, sometimes about to explode. We look at a woman and say to ourselves or to someone else how fine she is. She so fine I wish she was mine, but little do we know Miss Fine is a monster, a beast who has suffered much trauma in her life.

And it may not only be mental trauma but physical as well. In this hostile environment we are subject to a host of diseases of any and every variety. Miss Fine may come from a family with a myriad problems of which we don't care to know, but she is so fine, I wish she was mine!

There is no need to imagine the possible source of the pain beneath her beauty, but we need to be careful looking upon her beauty. There was a beautiful woman who had a dimple, but she didn't think that dimple was so cute since it was from getting her jaw broken by her step father.

There is so much pain in the world that we should stay prayed up, thankful and thoughtful that we get through each day, not worrying about yesterday or tomorrow.
--Marvin X
5/4/10

There will be a people's reading from Marvin X's latest book of parables, the Wisdom of Plato Negro, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, 309 pages, $100.00. The read-in/teach-in will be at the African American Museum Library, 14th and Martin Luther King, Jr., downtown Oakland, Saturday, May 15, 2pm, admission free (give what you can). The Event is a benefit for Black Bird Press, the publisher of Marvin X's writings over the past forty years. Seating limited. RSVP 510-637-0200. His books are not available online or at bookstores. Order directly from Black Bird Press, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA 94702. jmarvinx@yahoo.com.