America, Let's Talk Volume 1 | Page 28

Sitting next to a gentleman recently while flying to the west coast, we had an amazing conversation. While gazing out the window at the beauty that is God’s great earth, we spoke about spiritual matters before the conversation turned introspective. The gentleman mentioned that he was raised in Florida by a woman of color originally from the Bahamas. He mentioned that he was orphaned and most people, just by looking at him, don’t assume his primary caregiver was a woman of color, whom he says, ‘raised me right.’ 24 d I shared that a close friend of mine that passed away a couple of years back was raised by his mother and step-father, a man of color, whom he grew to love as his own biological father. We don’t know other’s story. Our outward appearance is only a shell. Our true selves is much deeper and complicated than that. So, keep an open mind when mentoring, advocating, or simply assisting a veteran and their family. Our stories may be more similar than we think. Sam Alix CEO Alix Investments Seabrook, Texas ‘Making Dreams Reality’ by Sam Alix