Feeling Furor in Response to "The Money Heist" Part I

 

Feeling Furor in Response to Four Seasons of La Casa de Papel,

“The Money Heist” – Part I

 

Like millions of Americans, I have spent hours binge watching episodes and seasons of La Casa de Papel, henceforth “The Money Heist.”  The final scene of the fourth season left me feeling absolute furor. Now, I remain on the cliff until the release of the fifth and hopefully the final season. I assumed that episode would conclude the series with “justice.”  Instead, I am left to wonder whether a repulsive, sniveling, infuriating, hypocritical and contemptible thief, slave driver and terrorist succeeds in a second heist at the expense of his blind followers and the masses whom he claims to represent.

 

I speak of none other than “the Professor” who is the biggest example of everything he opposes.  Initially, I admired him and believed he held minimal redeeming principles.  His criticisms of the banking and ruling classes as it relates to their systemic exploitation, subjugation and oppression of average citizens have appeal.  Throughout the global village, one percent of a nation controls ninety percent (90%) or more of a nation’s wealth.  Daily, ten and hundreds of millions of common people contribute billions of hours of labor to enrich a few thousand people.  Despite their diligence, discipline and hard work, these international citizens barely subsist.  In New York City, the average family expends sixty percent (60%) of their monthly take home income on housing.  The remaining minority percentage pays utility bills, education, healthcare, food, clothing, transportation, insurance, communication, entertainment and other necessary and miscellaneous expenses.  Average persons do not have any liquid income.  They save with fierce determination only if their non-negotiable obligations leave resources for a rainy day.  Recent studies document the treacherous predicament of average families which have approximately $400 in savings available for unexpected expenses.  Internationally, the average family lives on an annual income of $1500 (USD).  Indeed, these structural financial inequities are global.  I hasten to add that I do not advocate communism, socialism or any form of collective ownership.  The expanse of human history proves such economic and political systems simply do not work.  Whereas utopianism is an ideal fictional concept for a thrilling bestselling novel, a level economic playing field and free market, devoid of structural inequalities and regulated by government primarily to ensure fundamental fairness, are possible. 

 

“The Professor” begins the series deceitfully advocating for the common person.  In the first heist, he and his accomplices print nearly a billion Euros and put this “counterfeit” currency into circulation in the global economy.  He cites Spanish and international law in addition to unjust banking regulations and excesses to justify taking hostages and capturing the mint of Spain.  “The Professor’s” hatred of the banking and ruling classes ironically transforms him into one of them.  Not surprisingly, we become the people who we hate.  Hence, “the Professor” joins the oligarchs whom he despises and employs the same machinations and abuses that he condemns.  “The Professor” is not a noble Robin Hood.  His actions reflect a self-aggrandizing man who relegates average people to being pawns on his elaborate chess board of criminality, theft, slavery, felony murder and terrorism.  As I watched the four seasons, my furor about his unbridled hypocrisy boiled to lava like temperatures.  Through his dastardly and despicable deeds, this thief, criminal and hater of the international banking class and political and governmental leaders who do the bidding of the economic elite becomes the people whom he despises. 

He, therefore, does not deserve our admiration or compassion.  “The Professor” warrants universal condemnation.  His hypocrisy makes him a greater criminal than the people he judges and reviles.  His masterfully and meticulously orchestrated theft of nearly a billion Euros would destabilize Spain’s economy and those of the nations of the European Union.  The adverse results of “the Professor’s” grand heist would reverberate throughout international markets.  Chances are it would significantly devalue the hard-earned wages of average hardworking people.  He irreparably would injure the very people whom he claims to advocate.  Imagine the severely reduced food, clothing and housing resources of cab drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, gas station attendants and other minimum wage workers throughout the globe. 

 

In the episode when he orders the blimp flight to drop hundreds of millions of Euros from the sky onto crowded streets during lunchtime, he explains this act as sharing the loot with the people.  He assures his accomplices that they are keeping this promise to win public favor.  Monetarily, this “gift” equates with pennies on the dollar, pound or Euro for any anonymous person who happened to be on the street at that time.  In addition to demeaning these people by having them grab money as it falls from the sky, he makes them complicit in his theft; and in undermining their wages and devaluing their economy with “counterfeit” money.  However, this fictional series demonstrates the need of international citizens to demand pragmatic honesty and progressive leadership abilities from anyone aspiring to public office.  “The Professor” embodies someone whose self-aggrandizing character and hypocrisy would rule him out of consideration.  “The Professor” hardly exemplifies Robin Hood as his actions reflect that he does not believe any of the principles he espouses.

 

Guilty of several counts of felony murder, kidnapping, grand larceny and multiple infractions of Spanish and international law, this self-centered coward is a fugitive.  From a hidden location, he prides himself in being the mastermind of two monumental thefts.  He takes no risks.  He cajoles his coconspirators into taking the lives of undeserving persons and risking their own lives.  Consistent with his narcissistic disposition, he resolves that he is too smart to risk being shot.  Yet, he depersonalizes innocent civilians by holding them hostage against their will and forcing them to dig a tunnel, print illegal currency and be fodder should law enforcement rightfully attack.  In the first heist, he offers them a million Euros should they join his forces.  This sum translates financially into a miniscule amount considering the size of the plunder.  Lest we forget, Spanish authorities would discover this arrangement and eventually prosecute any collaborators.  Once again, he belittles the people whom he claims to serve. 

 

In stark contrast, “the Professor” cites Spanish and international law to justify himself.  He insists upon rights and liberties of which he deprives others to ingratiate his criminal essence.  You recall the scene near the end of one season in which the thieves finally cross into international waters.  “The Professor” announces this fact when they exceed the two-hundred nautical mile limit from Spain’s borders.  They celebrate as they giddily conclude they won against the authorities; they succeeded in accomplishing an unrivaled money heist.  That moment fueled my incredible disdain for “the Professor” and his reprehensible deeds and incongruence.

Feeling Furor in Response to "The Money Heist" Part II

 

Feeling Furor in Response to Four Seasons of La Casa de Papel,

“The Money Heist” – Part II

 

His followers, despite various human subplots of romance, parenthood, family strife and extended mealtimes, are not any more deserving of our sympathy.  Despite the seduction of Tokyo’s tantalizing body and red pepper temperament, she is a murderer, thief and willing participant in terrorizing and enslaving innocent citizens to enrich herself.  Rio’s self-effacing adoration and love for Tokyo demands the incalculable cost of human life to enable them to abscond to paradise.  Denver and Stockholm’s relationship which tangentially involves a young child whose father is powerless to determine his son’s rearing is built upon manipulation.  She receives her alias as she submits to the mental coercion of “the Professor” and his crew.  Denver begins a sexually illicit affair with her.  Repeated sexual encounters erode her cognitive defenses.  Her aimlessness as the pregnant mistress of a fellow mint employee ripens her willingness to join any group that will receive her considering her brokenness and lack of identity.  Nairobi esteems her thievery above the divine gift of her son.  Her appeals to the contrary, in the touching scenes about her desire to be reunited with son, do not eradicate her willful criminal personality.  As Denver’s father, Moscow is a quintessential follower who loses his life in obsequious deference to “the Professor” and his followers.  How did this hardworking man allow himself to be seduced by the plans for an improbable theft? 

 

Berlin is the unabashed, suave and debonair Italian brother of “the Professor.”  A talented, cosmopolitan and resourceful man who possesses formidable chutzpah, Berlin easily could have become a chief executive officer of a Fortune 500 company or president of a research university; were he to direct his gifts and endowments towards legitimate objectives of bettering human existence.  On the contrary, he enflames his character defects of white-collar deviance and criminality to appease his bohemian instincts.  His unrelenting narcissism propels him to choose death in a tunnel having forced a helpless mother to join in his demise.  Similar to Moscow, Helsinki is a perfect sycophant who follows orders in lock step even debasing himself sexually to satisfy the sniveling and degenerate physical compulsions of Palermo.  Tormented with unrequited love but possessed of fierce intensity and intellect, Palermo is a human volcano who compounds the criminality of his fellow thieves.  Lest we inappropriately root for these people, it is important to remember that they directly victimized a few hundred people and harmed millions if not billions of undeserving global citizens.  As they frolic around the world inexpressibly enjoying themselves at the expense of hardworking common people, they have no regard for the longstanding damage that they have done.  Insisting that their actions are justified due to the excesses of the Spanish government and other nations is gratuitous.  These people are murderers, thieves and terrorists regardless of their incidental human depictions.

 

This fictional yet repulsive “Professor” ironically exposes excesses of reprehensible national governments.  Consider the threat to democracy, individual and human rights, rule of law, civilian governmental leadership and privacy as depicted by the military and governmental leaders in the fourth season.  Is torture permissible?  Are there any crimes that warrant torture?  Do democratic nations ever have any justification for use of these tactics?  As it relates to terrorism, most people immediately approve of these tactics to prevent any occurrence of mass killing.  However, a serious problem arises as it pertains to gradations of torture.  Whereas the use of waterboarding and other techniques by intelligence agencies to avert terrorist operations may be permissible, is it alright for local police departments?  Who draws the lines?  Who guards observations to ensure adherence?  Is this governmental pragmatism morally, ethically and intellectually defensible? 

 

“Truth is stranger than fiction.”  As I watched the fourth season of The Money Heist, I reflected upon the George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney Administration which ordered White House and U S Department of Justice lawyers to compose a legal rationale for torture in defiance of American democratic and constitutional ideals and violation of international law.  Moreover, it seems probable that a sitting Associate Justice of the U S Supreme Court may have participated in this superfluous attempt to rationalize torture.  Because the Republican majority of the Committee on the Judiciary of the U S Senate refused to acquire, release and utilize relevant documents from the National Archives and Records Administration, we presently cannot know whether Justice Kavanaugh contributed to any of these torture rationale memoranda.  Additionally, we cannot know whether he perjured himself under oath before the U S Senate on multiple occasions in 2004, 2006 and 2018.  Each time, he appeared as a nominee for the federal judiciary.  His confirmation to a lower court required a second hearing.  In each appearance before the U S Senate Judiciary Committee, Kavanaugh failed to satisfy reasonable inquiries and objections regarding whether he contributed to legally sanctioning torture.  The precarious and questionable use of claims of executive privilege essentially suppressed all relevant evidence.  Its absence created the opportunity for unaccountable perjury.  As I write, reasonable American citizens remain bewildered as to whether someone who possibly perjured himself on four separate occasions before the U S Senate should remain as an Associate Justice of the U S Supreme Court.  Nevertheless, this fictional drama unveils realistic threats to popular sovereignty and democratic principles perpetrated by governmental and political leaders who are bag handlers for the banking classes and economic elite.

 

My furor toward “the Professor” and his fellow thieves results from their inability to assist common people.  They mimic the same behavior and excesses of the people they disdain; thereby they leave structural injustices and inequities in place.  Average people need leaders who seek wholesale transformation.  They require committed leaders who will empower them toward self-determination.  Were average people to save in large numbers and amounts, eliminate unsecured debt particularly credit card debt, embrace entrepreneurship and patronize non-traditional finance entities like green new deal banking, they could combat the systemic exploitation of the banking and monied classes.  Common folk do not have expensive lobbyists advocating for them in crafting and enacting favorable legislation.  They can fight on their own behalf if they unite and combine their assets.  Individually, they are left to feel powerless as they do not believe that their dollars and cents can have any meaningful impact.  Consider the difference in profits a boycott of movies by African Americans would make?  What sum of profits would be lost if all people of color in the United States joined this effort?  Imagine the changes that would occur in the cosmetics industry if girls and women who oppose ill treatment of animals refuse to make purchases for two weeks?  The masses do not need rogues whether insincere political leaders or contemptible felons to lead them. 

 

The hypocrisy of “the Professor” and his crew reflect comparable insincerity and inconsistency from myriad political leaders across the ideological spectrum.  Whether the left-most progressive or the staunchest far-right conservative, it is imperative that anyone seeking to lead possesses the requisite character, intelligence and multiple gifts necessary to govern.  I write as the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic.  With few exceptions, governmental leaders were unprepared.  Regrettably, a few heads of state remain clueless.  In the United States, racial tensions stemming from systemic police brutality and bureaucratic murder of African American males have erupted like an active volcano.  Protesters of all ethnicities and ideological persuasions continually demand systematic changes in policing, legislation and accountability.  This intractable racial strife with origins in the founding of the United States compounds the coronavirus crisis.  Many of our political leaders appear to lack ability, imagination and insight to respond effectively to these socially, politically and economically challenging dilemmas. 

 

 

Feeling Furor in Response to "The Money Heist" Part III

 

Feeling Furor in Response to Four Seasons of La Casa de Papel,

“The Money Heist” – Part III

 

I hasten to exempt and even praise the governors of New York, Illinois, California, Washington, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and Michigan as well as the mayors of New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta and Philadelphia whose forward looking leadership continue to save incalculable lives.  These governors and mayors demonstrate the kind of leadership the country needs.  Elected officials regardless of office or party affiliation will face the calculus of strained resources, natural disasters, culture conflicts, racial injustice, environmental fairness, digital divides, substandard public education, infrastructure projects and other twenty-first century global village challenges on local, state, national, regional and international levels.  Demographers project the world’s population will double by 2050.  This prospect necessitates leaders with vision, talent and interpersonal skills to assist the global village in preparing to feed, house, educate, transport, clothe, employ and provide healthcare to twice as many people with the same amount of land and shrinking agricultural, natural and environmental resources.  As I severely criticize the fictitious characters of The Money Heist for their  disdain of the people whom they pretend to represent, I more harshly condemn anyone who assumes leadership and advocacy for common people and fail to deliver a better quality of life to them.

 

Nonetheless, “the Professor” and his coconspirators offer a compelling and provocative indictment of the banking class and its control over the governing class.  This fictional polemic raises valid concerns about wealth and allocation of resources to nearly eight billion global citizens.  As the world’s population doubles, will we maintain the gross imbalance of one percent of the world controlling more than ninety percent of global wealth?  Assuredly, analysis of the banking and ruling class often yields unsubstantiated rumors and unproven conspiracy theories.  While I discard such baseless and meritless claims, I believe tough questions are worth tireless and painstaking inquiry.  The prominent finance documentary, 97% Owned, posits the non-negotiable reality that international banks and multinational corporations rule the world.  Apparently, the banking class shrunk paper money to only three percent of the world’s currency, while the remaining lion’s share lies within computers.  The banking class uses unsecured debt to imprison average persons who do not have liquid income or savings.  Aging, in the United States, average households do not have $400 in savings for emergencies.  Broken appliances, car trouble, blown tires, sudden illness or bereavement result in burdensome debt averaging an 18.25 APR that borders upon usury.  Is it true that Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and similar financial entities run the world? 

 

Arguably and cynically, the banking class literally owns the nation.  It can pass any law it wants.  Governors, state legislatures, Congress and the judiciary on all three levels heed the orders of the economic elite.  They will not be denied, nor will they be deterred in accomplishing their objectives. Following the 2008 economic and housing crash, none of the persons who devised this crisis were held accountable.  No one from Wall Street was indicted, convicted or imprisoned.  Both Republicans and Democrats failed the American people in this regard; neither the Bush or Obama Department of Justice or Securities and Exchange Commission did anything to adjudicate the purposeful decimation of the housing market.  Mortgages were given to tens of thousands if not millions of persons who were not financially prepared for them.  Subprime lenders of the third and fourth tiers knew a disproportionate percentage of these people would default.  As long they received their commission payments, they did not care.  They proceeded to pump air into the bubble until it burst; an eventuality for which they prepared and shielded themselves.  Beyond leveraging their bets, they utilized offshore protective options.

 

These economic handmaidens of the banking class relied upon its immunity as empaneled in American jurisprudence through Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (558 U S 310).  This landmark U S Supreme Court decision overturned the 1990 opinion, Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which regulated speech and funding by corporations in campaigns and the 2003 case, McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, that limited corporate financing in elections.  Citizens United legalized oceanic amounts of dark money in American politics.  Without any requirements relating to disclosures of donors and amounts, political action committees can funnel treasure troves of money into executive, legislative and judicial elections throughout the country.  Cynically, this decision legalized bribery and extortion.  Recently, an appointed U S senator from a Southern state was the subject of an insider trading criminal investigation relating to stock sales following a confidential briefing of senators about the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020.  Fascinatingly, this investigation was dropped on a Monday following a Friday night contribution of $1 million to a political action committee connected to President Trump’s re-election campaign.  Any reasonable person could characterize that contribution and the subsequent cessation of the investigation as a rank bribe.  However, because of Citizens United such blatant and large scale grift and malfeasance are permissible. 

 

More frighteningly, in each presidential election cycle, citizens even nominally observant of American politics can associate a few candidates’ names with the financial backing of certain billionaires.  It is as if these wealthy businessmen hired their own candidate.  A former Midwestern governor was tied immediately to a Southwestern casino magnate known to have very conservative and reactionary views in the Republican Party nominating process of 2016.  “He is owned by the Koch Brothers” is an often-said phrase of members of the U S House of Representatives and Senate.  More than their party affiliation or ideological positions, governors and mayors are known for any association that they may have with wealthy donors.  Is there any discernible difference between “The Donor Class” and “The Banking Class?”  What is rightly and pejoratively labelled as dark money currently controls American politics regardless of which party occupies the White House or maintains a majority in the houses of Congress. 

 

As federal judicial decisions cohere with partisan politics, it appears that justice is also malleable by the self-serving interests of major donors.  Important federal decisions determine the interaction between the banking class and average citizens.  Cynically, one wonders whether the judiciary has been bought.  An independent judiciary is the final recourse for average citizens to receive fundamental fairness; they lack the financial resources and political influence of business conglomerates.  If the courts have been bought, then what is the worth of the constitution?  Do any American ideals and governance principles remain?  There are scenes in La Casa de Papel in which “the Professor” and his coconspirators manipulate the courts and legal system.  They advocate for due process and legal fairness as they perpetrate crimes. Is this the writer’s way of shaming and condemning the banking classes as they compel taxpayers to bail them out of fraudulent excesses that they knowingly, willfully and intentionally committed? 

 

It is the height of irony that the banking classes demand bailouts to preserve their wealth from common people whom they confine to a merry-go-round of debt.  From the Silverado Savings and Loan bailout to the Charles Keating scandal to the housing crisis of the George W. Bush Administration, average taxpayers have subsidized the excesses of the banking classes without receiving anything in return.  This international series induces these public policy and governmental questions.  Chief among these inquiries is whether the judiciary will compensate for the incapacities of the executive and legislative branches in drafting and passing appropriate laws to rein in these excesses.

 

Feeling Furor in Response to "The Money Heist - Part IV

 

Feeling Furor in Response to Four Seasons of La Casa de Papel,

“The Money Heist” – Part IV

 

Notwithstanding my intense emotion about the storyline and characters of La Casa de Papel, I genuinely appreciate the complex public policy questions that this fictional depiction raises.  It behooves common people to learn more about the symbiotic and nepotistic relationship between international banks and multinational corporations.  Depending upon whom you ask, five banks rank higher than corporations as it relates to wealth, worth and influence.  Possibly, these financial institutions exceed the power and geopolitical reach of some national governments.  Yet, on a microlevel, average citizens have a chance to achieve existential freedom and financial liberty through continual education, debt-free living and increasing savings.  I appreciate this series and its inadvertent yet significant contribution to public discourse in the global village as we prepare for a doubling of our population.  How will we devise an equitable and dignified standard of living for all global citizens?  Answering that question depends heavily upon the direct relationship between the banking class and average citizens.

 

Has the banking and monied class permanently and irreversibly purchased American democracy?  If you answer in the affirmative, you might historically date this purchase on 23 December 1914.  President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act on that evening thereby legally sanctioning and codifying privatization of United States currency and control of its interest rates and banking system.  For more than century, the banking class continues to determine one of the most significant aspects of the average American citizen’s life.  A private and closed entity assesses the interconnection and worth of capital, labor, currency, spending, debt and market fluctuations.  Instead, you could choose 21 January 2010, the date on which the United States Supreme Court delivered the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling.  In overruling two significant campaign finance and electioneering opinions, the Court removed all previous restrictions relating to corporate speech, contributions and participation in elections.  It equates financial contributions through political action committees with free speech.  The Court extended these First Amendment rights to corporations as if they are individuals.  This decision opened the flood gates and countless amounts of dark money flowed into American politics.  From school board and city council contests to Presidential elections, the ability to raise sizeable sums became paramount to winning.  Not surprisingly, many winners take the oath of office so extensively compromised and pre-committed that they prove ineffective in governing.  Average citizens suffer as public officials prioritize the concerns of major donors.  Vital legislation relating to gun control following school shootings, economic stimulus within a pandemic, deferred infrastructure repair and replacement, Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid reform and other significant issues is not considered.  The agenda of the banking and monied class prevails.

 

The Trump Administration unabashedly demonstrates preferential treatment for the expanding billionaire class in the United States.  According to Forbes magazine, there are six hundred and twenty-three (623) billionaires in the country as of this year.  Together, they amass a fortune approximating $3 trillion which surpasses the annual gross domestic product of many nations and combinations thereof.  The tax cut legislation passed in 2018 bloated the federal deficit by a minimum of $1.5 trillion.  Future generations of poor, working, lower and middle-class Americans will bear the brunt and expense of such corporate welfare.  Quite possibly, that totally unnecessary tax bill demonstrates that the capitol building in which the U. S. Congress convenes is the biggest whore house in the nation.  Frankly, it is deplorable to possess such a negative and pejorative impression of our national legislature.  The evidence regrettably supports this interpretation and polemical characterization.  It does not allow any other reasonable conclusion.  The potent effects of unlimited amounts of dark money in American politics fuels this type of cynicism.    

 

The “God of mammon” reigns supreme over American politics and governance.  If leaders perceive the economy is doing well, they assume average citizens must be doing equally well.  Their tunnel vision compels them to overlook the pain and suffering of millions of American households wherein people sit at the kitchen table to magically make ends meet.  Politicians ignore societal inequities if they deem the economy is bullish.  They conveniently fail to consider any evidence to the contrary.  They facilely dismiss social unrest and upheaval borne of longstanding structural racism, misogyny and expanding economic inequalities such as inflationary erosion of wages of working people notwithstanding greater productivity and prosperity.  It is as if the performance of the stock market is the only indicator of American well-being.  Our leaders painstakingly attempt to hypnotize us into believing that the average citizens welfare depends upon the stock market when most of them do not have a seat at Wall Street’s technological casino.

 

My furor stemming from “the Professor’s” rank hypocrisy boils as powerfully as ever.  I detest the pretense of advocating for common people when committing the same crimes and excesses as “the State.”  “The Professor” is the biggest example of everything he claims to oppose.  Perhaps, he should have joined the governmental, military and finance leaders whom he fiercely despises.  His self-aggrandizement devalues the money and labor of the average people about whom he hypocritically claims to care.  The scene of the money drop and nationwide communique are repulsive given “the Professor’s” actions of robbing their gold would undermine their economy thereby causing them extreme economic harm as inflation would make it hard for them to subsist.  Whereas I do not know how this provocative series will end.  Will “the Professor” and his fellow thieves and criminals finally face justice?  Will the female Inspector’s compelling remark in the final scene of the fourth season, “Checkmate mother fucker,” be the beginning of ending the hypocrisy that pervades this drama?

 

Celebrating Chadwick Boseman's Life and Legacy

 

Celebrating Chadwick Boseman’s

Incredible Life and Enduring Legacy

 

Along with billions of admiring and grateful fans, I greatly lament the untimely and surprising death of the late Chadwick Boseman, an actor whose portrayals of the Black Panther, Jackie Robinson, James Brown and the first African American Associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall, will endure for future generations.  Death often appreciates an artist’s work as it demarcates its finite supply and raises questions as to its lasting worth.  Learning that Boseman worked painstakingly and tirelessly while battling an aggressive type of colon cancer arguably makes his work priceless.  While I mourn his death, I prefer to celebrate his life and legacy as I am forever grateful to him for his formidable example of the will to live, love of life, dedication to craft and determination to leave an invaluable body of work and legacy.  In death, Boseman taught us how to live.  He refused to surrender to pain, self-pity and hopelessness.  Instead, he dug to oceanic depths and found inner resources to succeed and excel realizing his life would end without being complete. 

 

Inexplicably, providence did not grace this talented and gifted artist with longevity.  We will always wonder what he would have accomplished had favorable circumstances, good health and destiny doubled his life span.  There are not any satisfactory or reasonable answers to that question.  Nevertheless, Boseman impressively willed himself to work through pain, chemotherapy treatments (emotional and physical aftermath of tiredness) and weight loss; inappropriate questioning, rumors and meritless speculation as well as anxiety that someone might betray his confidentiality.   His willingness to choose life as he knew of death’s imminence leaves us many enduring lessons about what it means to be alive.  I hope that within a century Boseman’s powerful example will inspire anyone who holds a dream within his heart yet faces incredible adversity.  In addition to illuminating the imagination of racially, ethnically and culturally diverse children and adolescents about being a superhero, Boseman’s legacy will teach them that the superpowers they seek lie within them.

 

Boseman reminded us of the indomitable nature of the human spirit that conceives, creates and contributes to the betterment of humankind.  He found inner fortitude and utilized it to expand his abilities and actualize his talents and endowments.  Notwithstanding the menacing diagnosis of colon cancer, he chose self-determination over defeatism.  I hasten to resist the trifle of romanticizing someone else’s pain and anguish.  Imagine Boseman’s frightening trips through “the valley of the shadow of death” as he traverses roughed emotional terrain of anger, bitterness, bewilderment, cynicism and myriad similar feelings and thoughts.  “Why me” would be an understandable question.  Another one would be “Where is God?”  Yet another would be “Will He graciously intervene and heal me?”  Nonetheless, Boseman slogged through his physical and emotional pain as well as psychological challenges and spiritual contradictions.  His ability to accomplish this demanding internal feat is one of most admirable, enviable and empowering dimensions of his character and story.  He did not wallow in excuses and a victimization complex.  Utilizing the spiritual power of acceptance, he transcended the debate of how unjust and unfair his contracting cancer was.  As he relegated this dilemma to being another challenge he faced, Boseman mustered an unparalleled will to live.  In maximizing his work ethic, he left us an impressive and incalculable body of work.

 

Many of the celebrity tributes to Boseman emphasize the magnificence of his role as the Black Panther.  They applaud him and the film for the immeasurable affect they will have on current and future generations of young children who dream enormously.  From the remotest villages in China to Amazon regions of South America to rural Aborigine locales in Australia to any trailer park or inner-city housing projects in the United States, any little boy or girl reliably can believe that he or she can surmount formative trauma, childhood pain, poverty, societal inequality or any other fundamentally unfair factor that influences his or her life.  Beyond seeking supernatural abilities, hopefully, Boseman’s role will teach these children to acquire perfect self-expression.  What an incredible gift and legacy if his work motivates every child regardless of where he or she begins in life with the formidable hope of achieving self-acceptance as a sure foundation for success, excellence, freedom and joy in life. 

 

Celebrating Chadwick Boseman's Life and Legacy - Conclusion

 

Celebrating Chadwick Boseman’s

Incredible Life and Enduring Legacy – Conclusion

 

I reiterate that they must find the extraordinary skills that they seek within themselves.  As soon as possible, hopefully, they will realize that they are unique children of God and members of the human family.  That realization in turn encourages them to personify an equally unique expression of God’s love.  Healthily, they see themselves as God’s gift to the global village as their love, work and service yield a cleaner planet on which to live and a more just world in which to acquire perfect self-expression.  Additionally, Boseman’s example instructs them that they can always find the inner resources to triumph over any adversity.  American History textbooks, within a century, will mention Boseman as an interesting and inspirational footnote.  However, it should be an extended one which discourses upon his unconquerable will and undaunted character that emboldened him to soldier on and defeat a formidable opponent.  The straightforward lesson is that if a determined person can stare down and conquer the Goliath of cancer, he or she can surmount any obstacle.

 

The cumulative grief of billions of anonymous fans probably cannot compare with this indescribable loss for his wife, parents, friends and persons within his inner circle of relationships.  I join innumerable others in extending condolences and praying for them in this exceedingly difficult time.  Additionally, I feel a profound sense of gratitude toward them for being an oasis for him as he worked.  Their example of love, affirmation and support of him demonstrates what love and friendship are.  Their labor of love enabled Boseman to leave his artistry which we enjoy today and will share with posterity.  I pray they receive healing from their profound bereavement which will permeate their lives for the foreseeable future.  I hope their selfless sacrifice, grace and generosity toward Boseman of which we are the longstanding beneficiaries will yield comfort, compassion and healing to them.  As the collective condolences of admiring fans cannot erase their anguish, undoubtedly, it contributes to their healing.

 

The apparently unfair nature of Boseman’s death makes it a mystery to me.  In the great lottery of the universe, why would such a talented artist with untold potential draw such a raw deal?  It is extremely unfair that his life ends abruptly.  How could this happen to him when so many people squander their divine gifts and natural endowments?  These types of mystical and spiritual questions are unanswerable though reasonable.  Their irony reminds us of the importance of life which remains a priceless gift.  I am grateful to Boseman for expanding this mystery as he taught us how to live in his death.  Resolve to live to the fullest extent possible as each day is a gift.  Embrace each dawn as an opportunity to create, compose, draft, brainstorm, edit, draw, paint, design or engage any number of activities, careers or vocations that make the world a better place for each of the eight billion citizens in our global village.  By doggedly working through pain, treatments and complicated circumstances, Boseman also contributed to enhancing the future lives of the additional six or seven or eight billion persons who will inhabit our global village by mid-century as demographers anticipate.

 

Grant unto our dearly departed brother and Thy son, Chadwick, rest O Lord.  Graciously admit him to the communion of saints, the heavenly hosts and the goodly fellowship of the eternally redeemed.  Be Thou kind, O Lord, and receive Chadwick into Thy direct presence.  Let Thy love and light perpetually shine upon him.  Grant unto Chadwick rest O Lord and let Thy light eternally shine upon him. 

 

Remembering The Late Reverend Rose Jones Wilson

 

With Wholehearted Gratitude, Remembering

The Late Reverend Rose Jones Wilson

 

Recently, a former clergy colleague with whom I worked while serving as Assistant Pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York transitioned to eternal life.  The late Reverend Rose Jones Wilson faithfully honored her call to ordained ministry, expanded her personal integrity through study and preparation, served diligently on ministerial staff and exemplified faithfulness in fulfilling her priestly duties as a wife, mother and grandmother.  Although she was an ordained clergyperson and rightly earned admission into one of the learned and professional classes, Rose never assumed she had mastered Christian discipleship.  As she strove to develop personally and grow spiritually, she made continual Christian education, persistent practice of spiritual disciplines and increasing acquisition of the mind, heart and character of Christ as hallmarks of her ministry.  The recipient of her wise counsel borne of her African American Virginian foundation, decades of professional experience as an employee of the City of New York and her interior, spiritual life, I personally admired and closely witnessed Rose’s evolution from a private disciple to lay leader to an effective minister who encouraged and empowered her contemporaries to persist in Christian discipleship though they were in the late afternoon and early evening of life. 

 

The evangelist, St. Matthew, in the twenty-fifth chapter of his Gospel, shares “The Parable of the Talents.”  This ancient and sacred story ends with two faithful servants receiving just rewards for their obedience, ingenuity, tireless labors and willingness to maximize the talents which their master graciously gave them.  He welcomes them with a magnanimous greeting.  “Well done, good and faithful servant!  You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:23 NIV) The traditional and historic Christian faith declares Almighty God said those words to Rose upon her transition.  To the best of her ability, Rose lived with the undivided intention of hearing those words from the Lord.  In her holistic ministry as wife, mother, grandmother and clergyperson, she enlarged her talents and gifts as circumstances warranted and served faithfully to honor and glorify God.

 

When Rose and I first met, she was serving as a Deaconess.  Within a few years and with pastoral leadership, the Emmanuel congregation voted to henceforth include woman in its ordination of deacons.  Accordingly, she was a member of the first class of woman deacons.  She announced her call to ordained ministry shortly afterwards.  Rose felt God’s summons as she neared retirement after a long and successful career with the City of New York.  Approaching the midafternoon of life, understandably, Rose could have turned her attention to living an easier, softer and simpler life.  A return to her native state, purchase of a forever house and renewed pursuit of hobbies and leisure activities would fill her days.  However, Rose did not board that ship to Tarshish.  Instead, she listened attentively to God’s call and immediately obeyed.  Admirably, Rose do not try to equate her personal piety, work experience and service as a lay leader with preparation for ordained ministry.  She also did not use her age and stage in life as excuses to short circuit the ordination process.  Rather, she surmounted her reservations and fears and enrolled at New York Theological Seminary where she eventually earned the Master of Divinity degree, the professional credential for ordained clergypersons. 

 

Seeking integrity of call and ministry, Rose prepared herself for success in ministry which she attained as she committed herself to lifelong theoretical, experiential and relational learning.  Anyone transitioning into law, medicine, business or academe would have to obtain the requisite degree to enter any of those professions.  As it relates to ministry, misguidedly, many persons believe the sincerity of their beliefs, strength of their emotions and personal background and previous work experience suffice as preparation for ministry.  With such meager and incongruent requirements, should the substantial decline in American preaching surprise anyone?  Pulpits in the United States resound with commercially lucrative clichés, low grade pop psychology and motivational speaking.  Nonetheless, Rose did not fall into that quicksand.  An assessment of her preaching and teaching in Christian Education would yield proper and due adherence to expository and biblically based instruction.  Moreover, Rose prioritized a disciple’s transformation towards Christ’s character and growth in his or her authentic and personal ability to confess Christ as Lord and Savior in words and lifestyle. 

 

Within her specific work with the Prime Time Ministry at Emmanuel Baptist Church, she fulfilled the priestly ordinance given to Aaron, his sons and the priestly tribe several millennia ago.  The Lord commanded them to keep the lamps, adjacent to the curtain that shields the Ark of the Covenant of the Law, burning in the Tent of Meeting from evening till morning. (Exodus 27:21 NIV) Rose understood her ministry as facilitating disciples’ desire to commune and converse with Almighty God in the Tent of Meeting.  Through doctrinal preaching and faithful service, she kept oil in the lamps to light the pathway to Christ.  The period of dusk to dawn represents the night and darkness in people’s lives.  Rose insisted that an encounter with God is the beginning of individual healing and resolution of personal challenges.  Her primary priestly duty was to ensure people could walk along a well-lit path to relate to God.