The Demographic Me

I am many things.

The product of education and opportunity.  By age standards, you would call me middle aged.  By economic measures, I am firmly in the middle class.  And by race, you would call me an African American.  I am married, have five children, own a home, three vehicles, and am employed.  I am a registered Republican and have always voted along party lines. 

I am a Christian.  I believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah and accepted His forgiveness for my sins in 1968.  I am not a member of any particluar denomination or church, although I once was.  In 1992, I became the first African American member of a particular Southern Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama.  I would continue to be a member of SBC churches in Colorado, New Jersey, and Indiana over the next 17 years until a difference in opinion would take me back to my non-denominational roots.  While I frequent an SBC church these days, I am more interested in finding what true faith is and what it means to be in a relationship with God.

I do not smoke, have an occasional drink, drink tea and coffee, prefer Pepsi over Coke, Burger King over McDonald’s, and paper over plastic.  I tip at 20% without complaining and do not request sliced lemons in restaurants at all—for anything.

My education includes the folowing degrees:  An Associate of Applied Science in Personnel Administration, a Bachelor of Science in Business/Management, and a Master of Business Administration—thanks to colleges and universities in Colorado, England, Germany, Alabama, and Indiana.  And I’m not sure I am done yet.

In the past, I have worked as a store clerk, served in the military, worked as a projectionist in a movie theatre, been a dishwasher at a greyhound race track, done janitorial work, and worked as a security guard.  Amway and I go way back, although I’ve never stayed with it—being an independent distributor three times.  I attempted to sell Rainbow vacuum cleaners for a while, and have pushed Mona Vie for its health benefits.

Ethnically, I know that I have ancestral ties to the tobacco slaves of North Carolina and Virginia.  Others migrated northwards from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, while still others called southern New Jersey home for centuries.  Mixed in with the darker lines of the family are Englishmen from Berkshire and Kent counties, Dutch settlers to the New World, and a variety of others yet to be identified.

This is me… for all that I am, and all that I am not.

On this planet, I am a small and insignificant dot.

In my home, I am king.  I am a husband, a dad, a master.

Ultimately, I am just me.

I am a blogger.

And I vote.