Am I getting old? I'm only 35. Most of my peers are about the same age. But, when it comes to living a conscious life, a life in an emotionally awakened state, a life that leads to perspectives from 360-degree angles and not from a narrow, right angle; I feel like my generation has it twisted. We talk about how we're “woke” and not falling for this company's products or that company's advertisings, but some of us will stop and cuss a person out at the drop of a deuce. We'll do it over something petty, like cutting in line at the grocery store. Exactly, which part of being woke is that? So, what is it about being woke that's become so attractive to us, the MTV babies? What is it about having an awakening that's become so unattractive? Is there a gap between our mental resistance to manipulation and our spiritual willingness to grow? It's become a badge of honor to claim you're woke, but what kind of honor comes from blaming other cultures of habitual suppression? Muslims are terrorists. Black people decrease the value in neighborhoods. Chinese folk are cheap and Mexicans steal all the jobs. It shifts our view of the eccentricity that diversity creates and turns it into a personal attack on all levels. It digs up dividers from beneath the surface and causes tension to erupt through our roots. It lights flames within our cores that become suffocated in the dark. It points broken fingers and it bounds us to mental poverty using chains of the past. What do I do with all this wokeness? How do I interpret it? What role does woke play in our lives?Some of us use it to our own detriment. We let woke control us. We won't eat, move, share, or search in the name of being woke. “I'm not working for them, they're trying to hold me down.” “I'm not eating that, some man made it. I'm not hungry.” “I'm not sharing with them, they don't even like us.” “Don't read that. They made it up to trick you. Alternative facts.” We become so entangled in being woke, we never wake the hell up. We don't take the time to exercise our knowledge in a productive way. We use our woke state to bury the awakening that's been with us our whole lives. We hide behind our own insecurities and pre-judgments. We blame everyone else for our failures (which are only growing lessons in disguise). We fear change. We fear artistic expressions. We fear everything that's not like us, or who we weren't told we were before our woke-baptism. It's time to make moves from a woke state to an awakened state. It doesn't make sense to separate ourselves from others who aren't like us. Others who don't eat, dress, talk or pray the way we do. I learn more and more every day about my culture; who I am, who my parents' parents were. I read books and tour museums that paint pictures of how my ancestors lived. But this doesn't mean I have to walk the lonely road of everyone who's different than me is out to get me. When you awaken, you use what you've learned in your woke state as empowerment. You go realms within to find security in yourself. You trust that something bigger than you will guide you as you become a proactive blessing in your peers' lives, not a reactive distraction. I believe we can allow ourselves to grow in a direction that makes life easier. A direction that allows us to become woke with wisdom. The wisdom that comes from overcoming our trials and tribulations, creating new experiences, learning from our failures, and gaining from our successes. A wisdom that can be shared with our fellow peers in order to make empowering decisions. When we empower each other, we push ourselves one step closer to being awakened. We show everyone that there's enough good in the world for all of us. One person's gain isn't another person's loss. One person's gain can be a gain for everyone. One person's loss is a hit on all of us. It's time we use our wokeness to encourage a generation who's willing to awaken. It's time to put down our guards of anger, shields of fear, and swords of retaliation and trade them in for tools of understanding, tolerance, and unification. I'm reaching for something deeper than understanding my roots or my family's heritage. I want to be more than a trend. I want to be bigger than an Instagram post. I want to live larger than the stereotypes that make me small. I want to understand the importance of being woke today, in order to usher in tomorrow's awakening. I'll remember my ancestors' fight through oppressions and vow to never oppress my peers. I'll support ethical businesses run by like-minded people because, in the end, we all win. I'll tolerate those with dimmed flames, yet always remain lit during their times of reviving. I won't fall victim to becoming a victim of the past. Instead, I'll be an overcomer who understands what it feels like to be victimized and pledge to never put any of my peers in the same predicament. I'm staying woke to the awakening.