CAUSE & EFFECT
By Cinique’ Scott

What can motivate a child to learn everything he can? My mom would answer that question by saying, “A belt.” My father would say nothing. He never said anything, or anything worth listening too, especially since he wasn’t around through my growing years. You have to love something in order to miss it. I do love my pops, but it’s not the same as the love I have for my other family members. They say ignorance is bliss, but I say, only in certain circumstances. I never hated the man, but I hated the thought of, “What If.” What would have happened if…I wonder? I felt so empty & incomplete. Being a young man nurtured primarily by a woman left many questions unanswered. Those are the kind of questions better answered by a man, a father figure so to speak. Don’t get me wrong I am very grateful to my mother and would do anything for her, but unless you have experienced someone else’s pain you’ll never understand how it feels.
In my pursuit of happiness and the answer to this question, I began on the path of failure, but ended up on the path to enlightenment. You see; my father, though he was absent, is the cause to my effect; at least in my eyes. His absence has led me to explore things that I thought he failed to teach me. The fact is, is that there are so many things that I could have possibly learned that I have pursued many things. A Jack of many trades so to speak. I know so much about so many things, yet I know nothing at all. There is always more information to consume or things to learn.
Early in life we survived our house exploding and burning down. We went bankrupt and lived fairly poor in the country in a mobile home. I went down hill from there. I learned how to smoke, steal, fight, curse, lie, and manipulate woman while on my dead end path. But while on my path to enlightenment, I learned the truth and how to love my wife, my children, and myself. I taught myself how to drive a stick, to grow things, to write, to educate and to lead. I learned that education is the key to life, yet I was not fortunate enough to go to an Ivy League School. The Internet is such a great thing…it taught me so much and continues to teach me more. It gave me an opportunity to suppress my hunger for knowledge and filled my belly with great treasures.
I recently learned how to ride a motorcycle. That’s right recently, but not just for leisure purposes but for gas reasons as well. I never graduated college but did get my high school diploma. If I had the time to go back to school I would, and I would get more than one degree. My devotions are strictly to my family now. They are the reason I live. I have lost my fear of death, which allows me to explore and do things that most people will never do. I have jumped out of airplanes while serving my country in the Army. I am a soldier, and I have no fear except the fear of GOD. There are many more things I can tell you but my time is limited. What makes me a good candidate to tell anyone about anything, someone asked me? I told that person that it takes a village to raise one child and it takes only one child to change a nation.
I ask myself would my father have taught me fishing. The answer fled from me, so I went out and tried to learn to fish. I have no leisure use for fishing, and I don’t think it fun, but I wanted to know because I like to eat fish and so do my children. Again, I ask myself if my father was a carpenter. And again the answer fled from me; so I read an ebook on carpentry, made a design, then went out and built myself a bookcase. Again, I ask myself would my father have taught me brick masonry and the answer was nowhere to be found. I drew out a design and contracted someone to make me a path to walk on. I live by this creed: If someone wrote a book about you…would anyone want to read it?
I vowed never to abandon my children the way he abandoned me. In keeping this vow, I am motivated even more to learn. I want to make my life’s path so jagged that my kids will have several choices on who or what they want to become. And make it easier for them to be who they want to be by showing them there is no limits. I guess he helped me in a sense; because if he were there he would have taught me maybe one or two trades; like a mechanic or a plumber. I probably would have been satisfied with that and never pursued anything else. You see…my drive in life is fueled by my desire to find all kinds of new roots, and to plant them firmly into my own seeds. Once I was a partially planted seed and now I am a reproductive flower consuming the garden. Is his absence the real cause to my effect? Maybe, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.