Frankly Speaking with Tyra G

A legacy may take many forms – children, grandchildren, a business, an ideal, a book, a community, a home, or some piece of ourselves. Our legacy naturally intrigues us. Understandably, we would want to know how the world will remember us after we're gone. How many of us will be surprised? How many of us live so that our legacy reflects all that we genuinely hold most near and dear? How many of us are living with integrity and courage?

Leaving a legacy is a human need. It is, in part, selfish – we want to feel immortal. We also want to feel like we matter in the vast sea of humanity. The idea of leaving something behind that will "live forever" is appealing. By connecting with those at the beginning of their lives, we complete a full circle in life's journey and leave some of our "selves" – our experiences, ideas, values, and personal example – in the minds and hearts of others. But leaving a legacy also has a generous component. What kind of society are we building if we don't leave a positive legacy? What kind of world are we leaving behind? What are we passing on to our children and grandchildren?

The world isn't connected only by molecules. It's joined by stories, traditions, memories, hopes, and dreams. The legacies connect us passed down from those who came before us, and the gifts we pass down to those who come after us.

For both young and old, the power of legacy enables us to live fully in the present. You understand that you are part of a larger community, a community that must remember its history to build its future. There is caring combined with a conscience. There is also wisdom in each other – linking action and reflection to deal with complex problems." [1]

Today I have two guests representing legacy from two different perspectives: mother and daughter. Additionally, they are building a legacy together across cultures and miles.

Be encouraged by their story.

[1] http://www.legacyproject.org/guides/whatislegacy.html

The challenge for us today is to be a lighthouse in the next generation's lives.

Be on the lookout for lost souls in this season of intense uncertainty and unrest. Be alert to those who may be in need and have nowhere to go or no way to get there. Be sensitive to children who are left out, leftover, or left behind. Be a lighthouse to a child. Show children protection and guidance. You don't have to say much; just let the child know you are there should the need arise.

Roselyn V. Baker-Black, affectionately known as Dr. Roz, has committed her professional life to supporting, encouraging, and empowering children and families facing personal, cultural, and societal challenges. Through her nonprofit, school guidance counselors, and teachers, she pursues transforming strategies to improve their quality of life.

She has shared her opinions in several appearances on the Dr. Oz Show, Huffington Post, NBC4, and Howard University's WHUR 96.3. She is an expert Psychologist on TV ONE's new Series For My Woman.

Have a child? Know a child? Listen below and learn.

A legacy may take many forms – children, grandchildren, a business, an ideal, a book, a community, a home, or some piece of ourselves. How many of us live so that our legacy reflects all that we genuinely hold most near and dear? How many of us are living with integrity and courage?

The world isn't connected by molecules. It's joined by stories, traditions, memories, hopes, and dreams. We are bound by the legacies passed down from those who came before us and the gifts we pass down to those who come after us.

Legacy is an interconnection across time, with a need for those who have come before us and a responsibility to those who come after us.

His father's legacy, now deceased, left the belief not to fear hard work and sacrifice for others. His mother’s legacy was to teach him respect for himself first and pushed him to challenge life’s realities at an early age. Because she planted the seed of excellence and possibility in his mind, he believes he is the man he has become.

And so, he has become a legacy in his own right as a leader, author, entrepreneur, and inspiring messenger about the process of leadership, accountability, and professionalism.

Take a listen and be inspired!

JAIL is event-driven, choice involved, power stripping, and a visible shift.

However, inside each inmate's jail cell is the power of transformation. Transformation is process-driven, choice involved, and resides internally.

Opportunities, Alternatives & Resources (OAR) is missioned to rebuild lives and create a safer community with options, alternatives, and resources for justice-involved individuals and their families.

OAR is a local non-profit restorative justice organization providing human services since 1971. Its history has its roots in the highest principles of human rights and the most practical applications of a community's enlightened self-interest and citizen action. Its origins can be traced to a 1968 prison strike at the State Penitentiary in Richmond, Virginia. Several local churches convened a conference on Churches and the Correctional System in response. Following that effort, Jay Worrall, Jr. founded the OAR movement, which stood for Offender Aid and Restoration. His vision of citizen visitors helping jail inmates formed the original premise for the creation of OAR organizations around the country.

My conversation with Brandon Cosby, Director of Development at OAR, is story-rich, informative, and hopeful. He answers questions you may not have known to ask about this space and its residents.

You will want to know more.

According to one estimate, nearly 570,000 people nationwide were homeless on a night in 2019.

It is estimated that over 3,000 people sleep outside every night in Seattle.

By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 10, 2021, at 9:30 a.m.

Man Sentenced 4 Years for Poisoning 8 California Homeless People, By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 9, 2021, at 9:48 p.m.

No Address, No ID, and Struggling to Get Their Stimulus Checks.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It is easy to walk past the homeless, to disregard the guy lying on the street, or ignore the woman standing at an intersection holding a handwritten sign with a plea for help.

It’s harder to look away when you’ve seen their eyes.

Look past lines drawn by hard living or the still-soft skin of someone young but struggling to break the cycle of dependency or abuse.

Their eyes hint at lost promise or offer a glimmer of hope. Some are haunting, some placid. Others troubled or masking troubles. Some are warm and tender, others tough and anxious.

Have YOU ever looked into the eyes of someone who is homeless? Maybe not the eyes, but have you ever stopped to consider who was homeless.

Tom Barnett, Director of Fairfax County Office to Prevent and End Homelessness looks beyond the apparent, into housing policies, procedures, and practices.

The office to Prevent and End Homelessness, part of Fairfax County’s Department of Housing and Community Development, manages and coordinates services to help people experiencing homelessness regain housing stability, including street outreach, emergency shelters, hypothermia prevention, and supportive housing.  The agency also serves as the lead for the Continuum of Care and collaborates with other county agencies, nonprofits, faith and business communities, and those with lived experience of homelessness to achieve the vision that every person in the community can access and maintain safe and affordable housing.

Take a listen below and learn.

This month’s theme, “Stories We Grew up with”, expands our appreciation of who we have become as a result of the stories we have been told and the ones we have told ourselves growing up. We look at how these stories have impacted our behavior, our thoughts, our dreams, Ultimately, I believe everyone not only has a story but also is a story.

Author  David Denborough, Ph.D. writes  “Who we are and what we do are influenced by the stories that we tell ourselves…There are many different events in our lives, but only some of them get formed into the storylines of our identities. Whatever storyline we have about our lives makes a difference in who we are and how we act.”[1]

Join my guest Ashwani Jain whose family told him that he was good enough, that he was loved, and that he was a survivor. These stories became his own while he survived cancer as a preteen and his first job rejection from the White House. I said the first because he was offered a second. You will love his spirit and his story.

Listen and be inspired!

[1] https://psychcentral.com/blog/the-power-of-our-personal-stories/

I want to open the door to a common thought space with some quotes from people who have walked into dark places and come up with dark solutions or who have loved others who have done so. I don’t know anyone who wakes up and say, “I want to be a criminal, I want to be homeless, or I want to be an addict. And yet sometimes the unlikely happens…

Anonymous from Birmingham Alabama says:

“I'm a good person. I'm a contributing member of society. I'm educated. I have a good job, make good money, have wonderful relationships with my loved ones. I'm so completely average. The only thing that sets me apart from that other young business professional that seems to have it all is that I'm addicted to opiates. And the problem is that I tell myself every day it's not a problem because I am able to carry my life on in a normal way...

I'm not a typical addict. I don't steal, lie to borrow money, I don't manipulate people, I don't engage in promiscuous activity...since it's not ruining my life in the way of major money, legal, or relationship issues I tell myself that it's not ruining my life. I'm delusional.”

Britany from Takoma says:

“I wish that people understood that heroin/opioid addiction has no face. It spares no soul, and once it has you in its tight grips, you'll spend your life fighting out of its hell hole. Opiate withdrawal relieves you of all morale and ethical codes you thought you once lived by and transforms you into a hollow shell of the human spirit you were born with. This drug was beyond a shadow of a doubt the scariest most difficult drug I've ever had to quit.”

Margie who lost her son in 2010, when he was 22

While I am a mother who lost her son to an opioid overdose, it does not define me, or my family. My son still matters, even though most people cannot bring themselves to even say his name, or recall his memory. I am forever missing my son, Mitchell, and he is my inspiration to wake up and live, every single day.

We are survivors of one of the worst wars in America. We cry every day. We cry for those that will die today, tomorrow, next week, next month and on and on. We cry for their families, and with their families. We are losing beautiful, creative, and loving people, every 19 minutes, and over 120 people a day. It seems like no one cares, that there is no outrage. This is a silent killer, and not enough noise is being made about this modern-day scourge in America.

That they never intended for this to happen to them. That they wish they never would have started. They feel pretty bad about themselves already without judgment from everyone else. They were still good, caring people. Addiction just completely overtook them.

Walk into the Fairfax County Virginia opioid crisis with our guide, Lucy Caldwell, Former Fairfax County Poice Spokesperson and current Director of Communications at Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board.

Take a listen. Learn things. Share.

How do YOU spell Legacy?

Ray Bradbury believes, “Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built, or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way, so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you are there. It does not matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something like you after taking your hands away.  ― “

I step boldly into the belief that one can be a living legacy. To me, it is called a purposed filled life. In fact, what if we were continuously motivated to step beyond our own gifts of imperfections and vulnerabilities to empower, encourage, celebrate, educate others who share the air we breathe. What if we internalize the reality that love does and well as love is?

This quote punctuates my thoughts perfectly: Peter Strople’s says, “Legacy is not leaving something for people. It is leaving something in people. —"

Meet Tommi Crump, a fourteen-year-old who has become a living legacy to those with whom she connects. She empowers and educates from a value-based platform to include kindness and generosity and joy. She inspires a younger generation she refuses to leave behind.

Click below, listen, and be blessed by a voice from the future., Ms. Tommi Crump.

From an outsider’s perspective, it looked like “Santiago” was simply a rebellious kid. At Second Story for Teens in Crisis, however, counselors worked on getting to know him and learning why he was acting out. He opened up and the counselors were there for him, helping him rewrite the narrative for his future.

When Timothy began attending Second Story's Safe Youth Project he was struggling in school. The program coordinator worked to tutor him in the subjects he found especially challenging, and at the end of the school year he won an award for his hard work and progress!

When Marley was kicked out of her home she was almost relieved -- it was her escape from years of abuse. She quickly faced new challenges on her own, though: poverty, anxiety, and homelessness. Now, Marley is a high school graduate. Learn how Second Story helped her get there.

When “Robert” graduated from Second Story for Homeless Youth he felt grateful for the counseling, guidance and help to find a stable place to live. But something stood out even more: he was grateful to know that Second Story staff believed in him, something he hadn’t felt before from the people in his life.

Second Story transforms the lives of children, youth and their families by providing safe havens and opportunities for them to grow and thrive. Second Story transforms the lives of children and youth, helping them stay safe, make positive decisions, achieve educational success, and overcome personal crises.

My guest, Abigail Brougher, Second Story Communications Director, shares the power of Second Story through a podcast with one of the many success stories. Stay close and be inspired.

Radio Guest Asa Nero

" Service is about you. Service is about giving what you have to offer without expecting recognition or reward. It is about doing what needs to be done. It means giving 100 percent of your attention to what you are doing as long as you are able to do it without causing yourself harm. Give what you have to offer without expectation. Give with love. Give in Joy. More you cannot do. Less you must not do if it is your intention to be of service." some words borrowed from life coach Iyanla Vanzant.

Listen to how Gen Z's brother and sister, Asa and Naomi Nero, are actualizing their version of service by saying "YES" to the power within them. You will be amazed and also understand they are the harvest of a faith-fill family who planted them in love.

Asa and Naomi are not new to the Frankly Speaking table. I have followed them since high school. Their gift during this visit was to be their own producers.

And so they did. It was marvelous! Enjoy and share.

Radio Guest Naomi Nero