Snap Judgment Studios

Judgment Studios

My mother and I, ever since I was a teenager, we haven't really been on the same page, about religion, values, relationships, nothing really.

We haven't been able to close this circle, and that's why a story that a friend of mine, she told a little while ago why it was such a gift to me.

A long time ago before Uber, before everybody had a cell, my friend, she was flying into Detroit and couldn't get a hold of me.

I said my mama's place for some reason so she called my mother. She asked if I was going to come pick her up from the airport.

And my mama said, I have no idea baby. I don't know what that boy's up to. And my friend's like, oh no, he said he was going to pick me up.

And then my mom's like, oh honey, if he said he was going to do that's different. You ain't got none to worry about. It's already done.

He's going to meet you wherever he said he's going to meet you. Believe that. Because that boy, that boy's a blessing.

And when my friend told me this story, I had to stop her.

Wait a minute. My mother said, I was a blessing. Are you sure that's the word she used? Because that word means something very specific to my mama.

I told you, she said you were a blessing. Then I had to be quiet for a while and sit with that because I never had any notion she thought of our relationship as anything other than a challenge.

And obstacle. Are you going to burden?

But she views our situation very differently as a blessing to her.

And since then, I've tried to use her word for our quarrels, for our misunderstandings, even for our silences of blessing.

I've tried to use it in all sorts of situations. And it turns out that I am wrapped in more blessings than I ever imagined.

For the un-stab judgment, one story, from one person who counts his own blessings in a way I never would have imagined, you probably present the cloak of good fortune.

My name is from Washington and I will not pick you up from the airport when you're listening.

Step down.

We began in the capital of Cambodia, where young boy is just starting to see the effects of a simmering conflict and know that this journey recounts aspects of the Cameroon Civil War that have been erased from history, the tortures, the deaths, the sacrifices.

While sensitive listeners should be advised about this very real backdrop, please understand that at its heart, today's story is about a kid trying to make his way.

Snap judgment.

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