Keep It Real & Treal

As you go throughout life make sure you keep it real and treal with yourself! As I talk with young people throughout this country, one of the criticisms that I hear time and time again is that older folks don't know how to be real! Many young people feel as if the older generation forgets what it was like "back in the day!" I'm not someone who considers myself old but even at my age sometimes it's easier for me to act like I ain't done nothin in my past as well, but to whose detriment is that? Mine or the young people I'm talking too? Sometimes young people need to have some guidance, and guidance isn't necessarily based on a "I told you so" basis. I've been more successful getting someone to see my point of view by keeping it real than I have been "preaching" to them about why they shouldn't do something!

Keep it real with yourself but don't just keep it real, but keep it TREAL as well. By Treal I mean be truthful with yourself about what's going on inside your mind! Real is about being factual about what has taken place. Yeah, you used to club and yeah, you used to have sex without a condom back in the day and whether or not you suffered because of it. Where as Treal is dealing with some of the issues you were faced with that caused you to do some of the things you did! Such as, "I didn't have any control at home because my parents were soooo spiritual, so it caused me to look for ways to be the one in 'control' when I was out in the streets doing my thing!" That's being treal because you're not only saying that YES I did the crime (if you even look at it like that) but I went deeper within my soul and found out that my illegitimacy was a leading factor in my whorish tendencies!

So remember as you're sharing with young people from all walks of life, if the television ain't sugar coatin' anything, and the radio ain't sugar coatin' anything, then why should you?

Now that's straight up talk!