Greetings absolutely awesome Enterprise-Tocsin newspaper readers and thanks for all the love and support.
This is another episodic episode of the Chronicles of Allen Hawkins, the never-ending journey of the sore thumb of Sunflower County and the champagne of commentary and columns.
A few weeks ago, I hit an emotional wall of sadness – nothing seemed to help me adjust to this unwelcoming feeling. I was compartmentalizing my emotions to keep people from recognizing the problem.
Then I thought about the world around me, the amazing array of awesomeness, the contagiously calmness of my community and of course the awesome assortment of amazing people.
These thoughts eventually broke something open inside me. Not motivation, but momentum, and the power to move on and appreciate the world around me even more than ever. When I think about the many people who have helped guide and shape my life I’m overwhelmed with glorious joy and I honestly feel like I’m wallowing in the Lord’s blessings like Superman in sunshine. I’ve learned to welcome the cloud of uncertainty that seems to always be hovering around.
There’s an old meaningful ancient Peruvian story that I want to share called “The cracked pot” and I hope that you enjoy it. In an extremely hot, small desert town called Huacachina lived an elderly man by the name of Alejandro who was once a great teacher and leader of his community. After Alejandro retired, he decided to build a swimming pool for the children in the village to enjoy and cool off, since water was scarce in their village and men had to travel across parts of the desert to get water to drink and wash clothes.
After months of digging and creating the pool Alejandro got his wooden wagon hitched to his donkey loaded with five large pottery pots and headed through the hot, rough, dry lands to get water. Each of the pots was bright, alive, and filled with joy every day bringing back water for the pool. Then one day while crossing the bumpy dirt and rocky roads the wagon’s string latch hook came loose and one of the pots fell off the wagon onto the ground, cracking it.
For months the cracked pot seemed sad since most of the water it carried now would slowly leak out to the ground. The pot felt that its life was meaningless without any purpose at all. Then one day while crossing the rough, dry, bumpy land the latch hook came loose again and the cracked pot seemingly closed its eyes as it slid closer to the edge of the wagon. Then on the edge the sliding stopped. The pot opened its eyes and beyond was a stunning sight. Instead of seeing the rough, dry trail, it saw green pastures, birds, bees, flowers and all sorts of life.
You see, because of the months of the pot dripping water, a whole new world of life had been created, all because of this cracked pot.
This brings me to Mrs. Debra Johnson, a longtime resident of Sunflower County as well as an educator. Definitely an infectious ball of inspirational energy who has touched every student and every person whom she has been around – especially me. From being an educator educating thousands of students to leading the charge toward making her community a better place for all of us.
Super-shout out to my older sister, WNLA radio legendary GM Regina Hawkins, on her recent award for life-long contributions to the marketing and promotion of Gospel music. Also, thanks to both Bryan Davis and his lovely wife, Callie Davis, for being here for everybody. And thanks to Pastor Larry Dozier for the encouragement and kind words.
