Finding the endgame or objective when there are many choices is not an easy feat. If one were to write down five things they’d want to be remembered for, what would they be? Thinking of death is ways off for many of us, yet with COVID-19, there is an urgency to as Spock (Star Trek) said, “Live long and prosper.” These times also hold labels, judgment, and radical thinking. So, again, what will your ashes lay to rest for?

Aside from the shoebox, we have self-isolated into, what have we allowed our brains to aspire to? I think of all the stories I’d like to finish and wonder which one would it be? Naturally, I can’t decide because the ideas flow and flow, carrying me into deep rivers of imagination. So, stepping outside my shoebox, I’ve been working on one dear to me about four sisters, who’ve lost their footing as a family. I’m inspired to dedicate this to my only sister. We’ve, after periods of “agreeing to disagree”, made the conscious choice to peacefully co-exist. Thus, our endgame is to be in each other’s life.

There are many endgames we toss and turn about, pondering the right time to focus on, as daily choices stack-up like piles of dusty papers in need of sorting. Yet, endgames are taken for granted; not understanding this may be the last day to accomplish what was procrastinated.

I recall the importance of finding a path, in what my Aunt Vivian used to preach to her students, nieces and nephews, and her children, “Plan your work and work your plan.” She was one of the most courageous persons I knew, in a time when attending Ann Arbor Nursing School, affiliated with the University of Michigan, was in the midst of the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.

I’m drawn by the strength and courage of people who are fearless in their endgames, thus remembered years (or decades) later. This month, Black History Month highlights a whole range of ideals and journeys taken by people who’ve left their mark. Malcolm X, assassinated, at 39 years old, on February 21, 1965, is such a person. In a Netflix documentary, directed/produced by Rachel Dretzin and Phil Bertelsen airing all of February called: Who Killed Malcolm X?: Activist Abdur-Rahman Muhammad did his own investigation into the perplexing details surrounding the assassination of Malcolm X. Interesting when Malcolm X was killed, Abdur-Rahman Muhammad was not even five years old:  but the question plagued him enough to spend three decades investigating the conspiracies, lies, and truth about that fatal day at the AUDUBON BALLROOM.

Malcolm X’s endgame has been dissected from many sides of the coin, but I relate well to one of his particular quotes:  “I believe in the brotherhood of man, all men, but I don’t believe in brotherhood with anybody who doesn’t want brotherhood with me. I believe in treating people right, but I’m not going to waste my time trying to treat somebody right who doesn’t know how to return the treatment.”

Whatever one’s endgame is, there should be a hand that holds your truth, long after you die.