We Need Your Peace of the Puzzle

By Malcolm Morris

Over the course of Malcolms life, he has felt an internal burden to try and do something about the many problems that he and the world have faced over the years. He believes that many of these problems are the result of us as human beings discriminating against each other based on our gender, ethnic background, religious preference, and many others. In this book, Malcolm highlights some of the insights that he uses to try and become a better person in hopes of making his contribution to improving our quality of life in this place we call Earth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 26, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463433062

Malcolm Morris

Malcolm Derod Morris was born on February 1, 1979 in Great Falls, Montana. His father was in the Air force at that time and stationed in Montana. Malcolm’s mother and father decided to move to Dallas, Texas months after he was born. Malcolm graduated from David W. Carter High School in 1997 and The University of Texas at Arlington in December of 2001 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sports Medicine. He has traveled to over ten different countries and read over 200 hundred books. Malcolm now lives in Clinton Township, MI.

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WE NEED YOUR PEACE OF THE PUZZLE

Written through

Malcolm Morris

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AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2011 by Malcolm Morris. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 07/20/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4634-3305-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-3306-2 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011912149

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Table of Contents

To The Reader

Thank You

SECTION ONE

INTRODUCTION

CHECK MATE

CHAPTER ONE

Gender

CHAPTER TWO

Age

CHAPTER THREE

Religion

CHAPTER FOUR

Ethnicity

CHAPTER FIVE

Politics

CHAPTER SIX

Sexuality

CONCLUSION

Where Do We Go From Here?

SECTION TWO

INTRODUCTION

Paging Marty and Doc!!!

CHAPTER ONE

What Would Marvin Gaye Say Today?

CHAPTER TWO

Ignorance May Not Be So Bliss

CHAPTER THREE

On Our Own Two Feet

CHAPTER FOUR

The Other Side of the Coin

I WISH

CHAPTER FIVE

Untitled

CHAPTER SIX

Lost in Translation?

CHAPTER SEVEN

Step Into My Office

CHAPTER EIGHT

Did Someone Call an Architect?

CONCLUSION

. . . That Little Old Bird

BONUS CHAPTER

Six in One Hand and Half a Dozen in the Other?

Dedicated to Momma and Pop.

In more ways than one, the two of you sent me on the spiritual journey that led to this book. For that, I am eternally grateful.

To The Reader

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for deciding to support this book. I would say my book but it is truly not mine. I am only the vessel through which it was written. That is one of the reasons I used quotations around my name on the cover/title.

I’m sure you would agree that there are many problems in this world and we discriminate against each other based on our differences whether consciously or subconsciously. I too have struggled with this and it is my hope that some of the things discussed in this book can give us the tools to become better people and leave this world better than it was before we were sent here. This book was originally going to be two books. It was decided later, however, to make it one and divide it into sections. The first section shows how we can limit our discrimination on the physical level and the second deals with how we can limit it on a spiritual level. I am bringing this up so that you will have a heads up and appreciation for why there is a table of contents, introduction, and conclusion for both sections.

I am just your average man and do not claim to be a scholar or authority figure on anything in this book. I am only presenting some of the things that I have seen and been shown over the years. Since this is my first book and I have little money, I do not have the resources to promote it like many others. I have gotten this book edited as best as I could so please forgive me in advance for any errors that you may find. Truthfully, I am okay with there being some errors because the book would be a little rough around the edges like me. With this being said, thanks in advance for taking the time to read this book and may you be blessed.

Thank You

To the One/Spirit (this is what I call The Most High, The Creator, God, Jesus, Allah, Jah, Jehovah, or whatever you want to call Him, Her, It, Them, etc),

I will be the first to admit that the ideas in this book did not come from me and I take NO CREDIT for them. As I have shared with loved ones before, You literally showed me one night as I was awakened from my sleep how to write the first section as well as how many chapters there should be. With regards to the second section, I thank You for showing me from within what You have shown me and sending individuals in my path to teach me other things. Your voice has been comforting in times of trouble/pain and encouraging in times of confusion. My hope is that You make the things that You want me to write in this book crystal clear and forgive me if I don’t write something the way You meant it to be written.

To my wife (Tianca),

The honor is all mine that you chose to marry me. People claim and I’m sure they mean that their spouse is their better half. You can add me to that list. You have been patient with me through all of the imperfections I have that have been revealed to you since we have been married and you still love me anyway. You have inspired me in more ways than you will ever know and have given me strength many times when I was too weak to move.

To my son (Zion),

At the time I am writing this you are literally just a baby. Words can not express the joy I feel when I look into your little eyes and touch your little hands and feet. I hope that this book along with the way I am trying to live my life makes you proud to be my son and I your Earthly father. I also hope that you can draw on my strengths and learn from my weakness to be the man I know you can and will be.

To my parents (including step-parents),

Although I’m sure that I have given you many head aches and heart aches in the past, I hope I have sprinkled in moments of pride as well. I used to see the intense verbal battles that we had regarding the subject of religion as a curse and negative thing but I am beginning to see how it gave me the energy to both internally and externally search for the answers that would satisfy me. Momma and Pop, I can honestly say that I am truly grateful that you were chosen to be my Earth parents for you provided me with the foundation that I stand on.

To my grandmother (Reva—please forgive me for using your first name),

I told you before privately and I will tell you again that you are the strongest person hands down that I have ever met. You have a way of being honest and loving that I have never found in another person. If I can be half as effective as you are in dealing with others, that would be a major accomplishment.

To my sisters,

Diamond and Lacy, you have given me a reason since you were born to try and be a better person because I knew that you were always watching me. To Diamond, I have a relationship with you that can never be equaled. We lived a number of years under the same roof and shared priceless moments then and later in this life together. You (as well as Lacy and Dawn) have a place in my heart that can never be replaced.

To my brothers (Tim, Lee, Dez, and Cecil),

As the youngest (with the exception of Cecil), you have given me many good qualities to try and live up to and shown me a love that any brother would be proud to have. To my little brother, although we live many miles away and don’t talk as often as I would like, I hope that when we do I show you the love that my older brothers have shown me.

To my mother and father-in-law,

Thank you for accepting me as your son and allowing me to marry your princess. You have always been encouraging and shown me support in all that I have set out to do since I have known you.

To my aunts, uncles, cousins, and other grandparents,

There are too many of you to name and too much that I can say to show you how much you have inspired me over the years. You have been strong in times that I would expect you to be weak and humble in times that I would expect you to be proud. We have bumped heads like many other families but at the end of the day you have loved me and each other unconditionally which shows me how a true family should be.

To Wayne, Mrs. Mitchell and Aunt Bev (rest in peace Aunt Bev),

I put the three of you together like I have always done because you are the ones that I often times give credit for believing in me during the times I didn’t believe in myself. If it were not for you showing me light through your love during some of my darkest hours, I’m not sure that I would be alive to write these words today.

To my friends and other loved ones,

There are too many of you to mention so I hope you can accept these words of gratitude. I can honestly say that each of you has taught me something in this life and I hope that I have been able to live by those lessons.

SECTION ONE

The Physical Level

INTRODUCTION

As human beings, we all come from many different backgrounds that have influenced the way we see life and interact with others. I realize that the word backgrounds is very vague but I want to leave it that way for now for a number of reasons. Regardless of your background I’m sure that you would agree that you have developed many likes/dislikes and tendencies that you didn’t have when you were born. I won’t speak for you but I believe that I was born with a certain amount of innocence that has been severely altered the longer that I have lived in this world. I guess life has a way of molding us in ways that we would never have imagined it would. Sometimes our differences may cause us to see ourselves as superior or inferior to others. This may cause us to either speak negatively about others who may be different from us or even try to change them. In the case of us feeling inferior, we may start to dislike who we think we are and change to either be like someone else or be what someone else wants us to be. Regardless of what side of the fence we may be on at a given time, it has the potential to be a very dangerous thing to ourselves and society.

In 2008, I was going through a very difficult time in my life and wrote a poem called Check Mate (which I have included after this introduction) that describes how I was feeling. I felt like a man divided. Since then I have seen and read many things that made me wonder if others may be battling with some of the same issues either within or with others as I have found myself to be. This book was not meant to be an autobiography and I am not going to turn it into one. I just want to make it crystal clear before I begin that I don’t claim to be any better than anyone in this world and that I struggle just as much as the next person (probably more on many occasions) with the issues mentioned in this book. My resistance is strong some days but not so much on others.

In the next six chapters I will briefly discuss six ways I believe that we are either divided within or with others that seem to cause a serious strain on our world today. I will end it by giving some suggestions on how we can minimize the strain and use these issues to improve our quality of life. Notice that I wrote minimize because I’m not sure that we will ever be able to stop these issues from arising completely because (in my opinion) they are part of being human. I do not claim to be a revolutionary bringing ideas that have never been presented before nor do I claim to have the solutions to fixing the problems of the world. I credit many people such as family members, past and present world leaders, film writers, etc. (some of whom are mentioned in this book) who have influenced my ideas. A college friend of mine would always say, Don’t complain about something without giving a solution so this is what I am attempting to do here. I was taught years ago that one can read all of the books in the world but if what is read is not applied, you have wasted your time. For these reasons, I have included homework assignments at the end of each chapter of this section to help you apply what is being read. Some of them may be too easy or difficult for you individually so feel free to change them as you wish. The assignment should be a little challenging, so if it is not please alter it. All I ask is that you try to apply what you have read in each chapter and reflect on it at least once before moving on to the next one. On some of the chapters you will obviously have to wait for the time to be right so feel free to move on but please don’t forget to come back to them. I would hope that through your reflections you will see the benefits that came from them. I also hope that you make an agreement with yourself to continue to improve in these areas whether it be by making the assignments more difficult as time goes on and/or trying them on different people. Many of the assignments have helped me so I figured that they may do the same for you.

I feel the need to warn you that this book is not intended to be a long one full of history and statistics. It is meant to bring awareness to some, remind others, and spark dialogue between all. I will use the strategy that I have come to admire by some of my favorite authors who write as if they are speaking to you one on one without a lot of big and impressive words. I hope that this book finds itself in the hands of the average person who may or may not read very often as well as those individuals who consider themselves to be intellectuals or scholars. I don’t plan on doing a lot of promotion with this book because I don’t have the money or resources to do so. Even if this was not a short book, I would probably still have made it pretty cheap because my goal in writing it is not to make a lot of money. Obviously, I would like to make some money from it but honestly this is not what drove me to write it. If you actually finish reading this book and like it, I humbly ask that you do two things. I know I already asked you to do the homework assignments but please bear with me. I ask you to email or call me giving your opinion of the book (good or bad). My email address and cell phone number are listed in the back of the book. I included both of these ways to get in touch with me because my goal is to be able to use this book as a way to network and give many people who may have never come in contact with each other a chance to do so and improve themselves so that they can improve their individual communities. I didn’t include my personal address because I (like many) want to have some sort of privacy so I don’t ask for anything more from you. I believe that we can communicate effectively using other means of communication. If you include some contact information, please let me know if I can pass it on to others in your area who are trying to improve themselves and their communities. Honestly, I would prefer that you don’t give too much contact information because I want you to be safe. Things constantly change so in the near future email may be replaced by something else but hopefully we can adapt and keep the contacts going. The last thing I ask you to do is to recommend the book to someone you think may like or benefit from it.

CHECK MATE

Blinded by darkness

Fatigue setting in

Body aches from top to bottom

Wondering if this is the end

In a mental and physical death bed

At times I’m at peace

But often times find myself giving in

To the overwhelming power of the beast

As the four walls close in on me

And the chaos unfolds

God’s angels and Satan’s demons use chess strategies

To compete for my soul

The demons turn up the heat

Until I drop to my knees

The angels provide a glass of ice water

Followed by a cool breeze

When the angels bring a bulletproof vest

And security feels nearer

The demons break out the machine guns

Loaded with "cop