Y' see me now?

The face is the same. Creases, folds, softness, ruggedness, weathered, determined and certain. I'll let you pick them out.My Uncle Isaac, Uncle Griffin, My Dad and Me. I'm not sure what's behind those eyes, but I am sure that the genes are the same. Look at us, on the occasion of the first family reunion in Macon Georgia..  This is probably the only time the four of us were together. My Uncle Joe is missing as is aunt Sarah, but they had the same faces. So this is what I'm going to look like.  This is what they looked like. so many years ago, with pobably the same dreams and hopes for conquering.  Its almost 40 years since this picture was taken.  They're gone now. But they left me, my brothers, my cousins, and our families, and, our hopes and dreams. How do we honor them? How do we make sure those faces live forever?

I don't know the answers. I only know we kep seeking. We keep looking for their stories. What IS behind those eyes.  What is in those engineer brains... --All the Pitts men had technical brains... It was often said that they could tear apart anything and put it back together again.  I  knew that to be true

I didn';t know my Uncles well. But I knew their type: Strong. Defended. Wanting to proof themselves worthy. They were raised in a time that was difficult for Black Men, Particularly Black Men who suspected they had already conquered, but worked most of the time as if they hadn't.  They were raised by a strong father,.. a controlling, tall man.. a man who, by most accounts, commanded his children's respect,.... and fear.  But maybe it had to be that way. Maybe he knew that if he didn't make them fearful, then the world would. I can almost hear him saying in that southern drawl of his,.."Y'know ,..its tough out here,... Ya gotta be  a man, you gotta be strong.  Yes, I knew him too. He used to come to our house on Pacific Street in North Philadelphia, on a spring afternoon, sit in a big chair we had in the living room and tell story after story of growing up in the south, building railroads, building a life for him and his family.. He wanted to make sure we knew his stories well,, .so he'd always punctuate them with "Ya see me mow?,.. Ya see me now?" Yes, it was tough out there, and he wanted to make sure we knew it, and about his strength in overcoming,.. perhaps so that we would overcome too.

And so I'm left with these three men,, four, if you count Uncle Joe, who were raised by a tall, strong defiant man. And they were defiant and strong, too,...wanting us to follow in that strength and courage.  No, it hadn't been easy for them.. It was indeed tough out there. but maybe that's how we honor them! Maybe that's the message: To make sure we're defiant, strong and courageous as we meet adversity. Those carved lines and cheek folds are more than genetic, they're earned. But when I look closely, I also see gentleness in the eyes,... and for me, a combination of courage and defiance of heart, and gentlness of spirit is written all over those faces. They tell me its tough out there, but you can be gentle with the world, and, with yourself.  I understand.  "I see you now".