Reflections
By: Wilhelmina Bryant
Lambda Motivation 9/23/2021

     “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”
      My Great-grand mother and my grandparents who all raised me never received a degree of competency but were very proud of the fact that they could read and comprehend. They read almost anything that they could get their hands on from mainline newspapers and magazines to newspapers and magazines devoted solely to unreported the Black Experience. I grew up hearing people read to each other, so I always loved having someone read to me.
      Like many people we were considered poor and the gift that came from that was having to create and provide our own entertainment. Thus came the telling and retelling of stories, myths, legends and yes, sometimes suspected lies. I grew up loving to hear stories, they fueled my imagination.
Do you recall your favorite childhood stories? Did you only have one that you loved hearing over and over? Or were you like me, who loved many stories. Often they began like this: “Once upon a time in a land far away…., or Long, long ago there lived a…” It did not take a genius intellect to realize that the stories had dual purposes, to entertain, but more importantly to teach. The stories were to teach  me about the things that should be valued, respected, feared or rejected; they were cautionary tales.  They helped to shape my thinking about people and the world around me.
     It was the first line that always hooked me, I leaned forward waiting to be taken on an imaginary adventure. One of my many favorites was the story of “Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs”. I was intrigued by her Stepmother’s insecurities, Snow White’s innocence, the Prince’s love and the protective bond that was formed by the 7 Dwarfs.
      But what was the lesson that I learned from that fairytale?  I will share with you how it landed in my spirit, it’s not necessary that you agree, but this is how I saw it.