Books by J. A. Jackson - July 2020

The Children Know What Love is...

Have you ever watched little children at play? 

Have you ever seen a friend bring over their new baby and watch as a toddle vie to hold the baby? Asking repeatedly, “I want to hold the baby? I want to hold the baby!”

I have, and they are all beautiful sights to see. Watch the little children for they will show you what love is.

What is love? The dictionary say it is an intense feeling of deep affection and it can encompass a range from a strong and positive emotion to a deep powerful affection that defies all reason.

What is racism? Racism is defined as prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.

Nelson Mandela said…

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Nelson Mandela — 1994, from his autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom”

And Maya Angelou said…

“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.” Maya Angelou

And the bible says Love is…

Paul’s great hymn to love: “Love — agape — is patient and kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. … Love never ends” (1 Cor. 13:4–8a).

Why do I say all of this? Because love to me seems to be there from birth, yet racism is something that seems to me, to be taught by those who’s plane of existence rides on the wave of fear, of others.

Little children know what love is.

If young children are born with so much love, why are the observations, associations and education of our children ingrained with so much racism?

For if you want to really know what love is, watch a young child ask to hold a baby and watch while that child holds that baby and stares at that baby with love and ask yourself, why in the world would we want to change that?

Learning New Things Is Crucial for Happiness!

Every day at my job, I learn how to write better, edit better and publish better.

To me, I believe learning new things is crucial for happiness and it wards off memory loss.

That being said my job or position is that I am a writer. Yes, I get to totally stay home and write each day.

The total number of books I have written and published are eleven (11).

Yes, I have a couple of book series. And how these books series and stand-alone books came to be, is because I learned something new each day.

I believe that learning can give us a range of perspectives and I love to apply this to my writing.

For example, I get inspirations for my books and for living this life, through “what-if” moments throughout the day. Each new situation I encounter, read, or watch on TV can inspire my “what if moments” for characters, plots, etc., in my writing.

Visiting new places can be a learning moment for me also, that inspires ideas for my books, new cooking recipes, ideas to spice up my bedroom exercise (code word for sex) or even redecorating my home.

Learning something new each day can gives us all a range of perspectives to call on, it helps us to better adapt to new situations, or emergencies in our life. Learning new things can also help you socially.

Another big example on the benefits of learning new things, is the new learning we all have had to do, daily, with the COVID-19 Pandemic we all have been subjected too.

We each have learned about the importance of washing our hands, wearing masks and social distancing, to name a few.

All of this, to me, show how beneficial learning new things can be.

And if you don’t believe me. Think of it this way. If you and I had not taken the time to learn about what we could do to protect ourselves from COVID-19, you wouldn’t be here to read my article, and I wouldn’t be here to write it. Ponder that one…

Happy 4th of July! O, let America be America again— from Let America Be America Again (1938)

O, let America be America again—

The land that never has been yet—

And yet must be—the land where every man is free.

The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—

Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,

Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,

Must bring back our mighty dream again.

— from Let America Be America Again (1938)