I have not always been a football fan, but I have been watching the sport my whole life. When I was a little girl it was the background noise I fell asleep to on lazy holidays with too much turkey and extra helpings of stuffing. Football was not something I was interested in. I didn’t have a hero either. I didn’t want one. I didn’t see a reason to place anyone else levels above my own core values. I am a hero too. Let’s be heroes together, as equals.

I decided when I was very young that I am capable of greatness. I looked around at my peers and I knew that I deserved to be liked just as much as the rest of the group and then sometimes I felt like I should be liked more. Sometimes the people around me were not nice to each other. Sometimes the people around me were terrible and mean. Sometimes they hurt me. Sometimes they made other people cry. Just sometimes though. It just so happens that I love people for who they are. I simply try to understand the worst when it appears so I can be better than becoming it.

Being ‘LIKED’ is and has always been my measurement of worthiness. I believe that if someone does not like me there should be a reason and then an accountability on my end to change or make it right. “What did I do? Oh my gosh I am so sorry!! I didn’t know. Please let me fix it!!”

That’s what heroes do. They fix things. They help people. They take actions that becomes the good we want to see in the world.

“I want to change the world…” my heart whispered.

“Why would you change me?” the world whispered back. “I am perfect the way I already am.”

I am not a little girl anymore and there are plenty of people who do not like me. Just this morning I woke up to a text from someone angry about my blog. “I saw the REAL YOU yesterday Amber Garibay. Good luck with your life!!!”

I got on Facebook to see that I was unfriended yet again. Then Facebook suggested I check out my biggest local competitor for photography. “You should go check out this business page. It had WAY MORE LIKES THAN YOURS!!!”

Now nobody likes me…

Sigh.

There are plenty of people who do not like Russell Wilson. I know it’s crazy to think that is possible because he is an exemplary human being, but it’s true. There are even some football players that hate him for NOT BEING BLACK ENOUGH. #allpeoplematter #blackman #lightman #woman

“When you are black, you have to deal with so much crap in your life from other black people. It’s a dirty, dark secret, I’m glad it’s coming out–it comes out about every two years–I wrote a big chapter in my book about it, to be honest with you. I say, you know, with young black kids, you know when they do well in school, the loser kids tell them, you are acting white. The kids that speak intelligently, they tell them, you are acting white.”

(Source Charles Barkley on Russell Wilson)

Can you believe that? I can’t imagine people being mad at me for not being white enough. I’m usually worried about being too pale so I go tanning. Or at least I did until I started worrying about dying from cancer and wrinkles.

This white girl has a message for all black people. I have a message for all people. Black people are not oppressed by white people. All people are oppressed by all people.  I know because I love all people and I study them exactly that way. How can I free them?

If you are reading these words, the words of my heart, I would like you to close your eyes and imagine a world where we are all the same light. There is no skin. There is no style. There is not face. We are the same, but are we?

If we are removed from all that is worldly. Stripped bare of every experience and novelty, so that we can float together as a collection of souls what would that culture entail? What do we stand for as people? What do we hope to achieve by love? and if there is a soul without love can some be spared? Some of us need to be saved.

I do not want to be one of those people in need of saving so I dream larger than most people do. I keep trying to find ways to include everyone I want to help and it’s funny because a great deal of them do not really want to be included. “Focus on you Amber. That is enough. Take care of YOU.”

I am taking care of myself and God gave me more energy than a bunny that lives on LIFE as a source for speed. I am here for a purpose that is and always has been MUCH bigger than myself. Russell Wilson is a hero because he is not afraid to live clean in a world that is dirty. He is not afraid to walk with God and against popular science. Many people believe we should only believe what can be proven. I myself am a scientist. I also love God. Yours and Mine and Theirs…

Which way is right when life has so many choices? I do not want to be too pure because I do not want to be that far removed from the real that people are. We are all sinners and yes, of course I love you anyway. Could you love me if I choose to live as close to perfect as light will allow? I hope you can because that is the life I have planned for myself.

I will love each day that is my day of my choice. I will enjoy the challenge of not having things that are easily handed. I will look UP to see the success before me and I will reach DOWN to help those who think they are below.

Let’s be heroes together, as equals.