Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Free Mind in the City
    A Free Mind in the City
    A Free Mind in the City
    Ebook77 pages1 hour

    A Free Mind in the City

    By Hajji Wali Ahmed Furqan

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    If you are living in an urban environment pervaded by drugs, prostitution, and rampant crime, it can be difficult to raise children who have not been negatively impacted by their surroundings. But the neighborhood should not make the person. It is possible to teach your children to rise above the influence of drugs and poor decision-making, even when surrounded by poor role models. Illicit influences and corrupt elements in your neighborhood do not have to determine the level of success your children can experience as adults.

    Author Wali A. Furqan, founder and president of the nonprofit organization PATOY (Paying Attention to Our Youth) is the father of seven children who overcame the potentially harmful effects of the urban environment and each became successful. In A Free Mind in the City, Furqan tells the story of his family and of how he raised his children in an environment that has a tendency to destroy the best of its denizens.

    In this guide, Furqan shares the wisdom he used with his children to help parents take responsibility for their familys success and teach their children fundamental morals and ideals that they otherwise might never learn. With focus on your family and the grace of God, success is inevitable.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateMay 20, 2013
    ISBN9781475989632
    A Free Mind in the City
    Author

    Hajji Wali Ahmed Furqan

    Hajji Wali Ahmed Furqan currently lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife. They have seven children and two grandchildren. Wali is a graduate of Truman State University, holding a BS in business. He volunteers for the Department of Correction Prison Ministry and is the founder and president of the nonprofit group Paying Attention to Our Youth, which advocates parental responsibility.

    Related to A Free Mind in the City

    Related ebooks

    Self-Improvement For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Beyond The Binary

      May 24, 2023

      Beyond The Binary
      5 min read

    • Article

      Not In My Backyard: The Reality of Human Trafficking and 5 Steps to End It

      Feb 18, 2020

      — ‘Human trafficking’? That can’t possibly be a real thing happening around me… Or could it?  Those were the questions running through my mind as I sat on my friend’s couch in Sydney, Australia back in 2008 listening to her tell me about a new nonpro

      6 min read

    • Article

      Drama Queen

      Jul 21, 2021

      Drama Queen
      5 min read

    • Article

      LIVING STRONG with Lex

      Nov 3, 2019

      LIVING STRONG with Lex
      3 min read

    • Article

      VeganLife meets… Evanna Lynch

      Mar 26, 2021

      VeganLife meets… Evanna Lynch
      9 min read

    • Article

      Let’s Help Everybody Follow Their Dreams

      Oct 14, 2018

      It was 30 May 1990 and I woke up earlier than usual. I was excited and couldn’t wait to get stuck into the day. The sun was shining in northern England, as it always seemed to at this time of year, even though it was against all logic. And it was sch

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Age Of Consent

      Nov 18, 2018

      The Age Of Consent
      3 min read

    • Article

      All Well And Good

      Jan 6, 2023

      All Well And Good
      10 min read

    • Article

      Indya Moore

      Mar 26, 2021

      Indya Moore
      14 min read

    • Article

      Raise your Voice

      Oct 11, 2020

      Raise your Voice
      14 min read

    • Article

      Speaking Truth To Power

      Jun 21, 2023

      Speaking Truth To Power
      6 min read

    • Article

      Dylan Mulvaney

      Mar 24, 2023

      Dylan Mulvaney
      8 min read

    • Article

      Lady Latonya

      Dec 4, 2019

      Lady Latonya
      6 min read

    • Article

      Dear Mariella

      Mar 24, 2020

      Dear Mariella
      5 min read

    • Article

      Jake Luhrs August Burns Red

      Jun 25, 2020

      Jake Luhrs August Burns Red
      3 min read

    • Article

      Changing The Narrative

      Aug 20, 2019

      Changing The Narrative
      9 min read

    • Article

      Brendan Jordan

      Aug 28, 2020

      Brendan Jordan
      7 min read

    • Article

      Kat Taylor Is A Rebel Banker

      May 2, 2019

      Kat Taylor Is A Rebel Banker
      23 min read

    • Article

      Why Empathy Can Be So Hard

      May 1, 2023

      I RECENTLY SPOKE at a conference for CEOs in North Carolina, and after I gave my presentation, an enthusiastic gentleman came over to speak with me. He told me how great my presentation was and how he worked with “coloured people” back home and how i

      7 min read

    • Article

      What Does Non-Binary Mean?

      Jul 20, 2021

      What Does Non-Binary Mean?
      4 min read

    • Article

      Family PLANNING

      Jun 6, 2021

      Family PLANNING
      3 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Aug 27, 2021

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Free Mind in the City

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      A Free Mind in the City - Hajji Wali Ahmed Furqan

      Prologue

      A Reflective Memory

      It was a warm Arkansas spring day, and it had rained earlier that morning. I can recall this because of what happened to a five-year-old boy on this day. My older sister Bernice and my older brother Roosevelt were playing in the front yard of our home. Our home sat on a hill in front of a ravine, which was approximately fifty yards in front of our house. The ravine was shallow enough that when there was a heavy rain, the water would back up to the front of our house. On this particular warm summer morning, Bernice and Roosevelt had taken off their shoes, jumped into the water, and left me on the front porch of our home.

      Their laughter and playfulness were too much for my young mind to handle. So I walked to the edge of the steps and jumped into the water to join in the fun and laughter. What I didn’t know was that the level of the water was deeper than what I had thought, and I immediately became submerged. I remember looking up and seeing the water over my head. I can recall Bernice reaching down into the water, plucking me out, and putting me back on the porch. At the time of my water venture, Roosevelt was ten and Bernice was twelve.

      Fifty years later, before Bernice died, I asked her about saving my life. She said she remembered it as though it were yesterday: She said she was glad she had acted the way she had because Roosevelt didn’t notice that I had waded in and gone under.

      This incident made an indelible mark on my memory bank. Since that incident, I have tried to take the opportunity to repay her for having been there for me. I have tried to play a major role in her sons’ lives. God (G-d) always gives us opportunities throughout our lives to show our gratitude for his mercy and that of others. This incident taught me early in life to always be thankful for any help or mercy that G-d may extend to me through others.

      One other thing it taught me was that I could not walk on water.

      Chapter 1

      Are You Free Yet?

      Have you ever questioned yourself about the many things that you feel obligated to do? Watching the must-see movies, buying the car that you just have to have, playing your favorite lottery numbers daily? In most of our lives, there are many frivolous and some not-so-frivolous must-dos that keep us from realizing freedom of thought and being.

      Most baby boomers can remember the saying, An apple a day will keep the doctor away. Now these same baby boomers see themselves as needing an aspirin a day to keep a heart attack away. We went from natural food products to artificial food products. We went from depending on something that was natural and good to something that our clinicians represent to us as something we must have. Have you ever given thought to the millions of people around the world who feel dependent on a little pill? They see it as a lifesaver. Your health should not be held captive to the pillbox or the latest miracle cure of the day.

      Have you noticed people whose lives have become dependent on the pillbox? My sister and I went to visit our nephew in Las Vegas. We were sitting at his breakfast table when my sister produced a black leather bag. I thought she may have brought some food for her flight from Memphis to Las Vegas, but that was not the case. My sister had twelve or fourteen bottles of different prescription medicines she took daily. My sister was using the medicine to be as free as she could from the stress and anxieties in this so-called land of the free and the brave. Freedom is a constant resistance movement fought individually and collectively. The battle is not won from the outside before it is won from the inside. Are you free yet? Or do you still wish you knew what it means to be free?

      Today’s high-tech environment keeps the mind captivated by an ever-increasing number of mind toys. There are so many high-tech gadgets that keep the average person from having a free moment, a moment when he or she is not engaged with a mind-captivating toy. It is harder and harder to find a free mind in the city, free from all the mind grabbers that keep you from having time to contemplate something greater than just the mundane.

      For the masses of people in the modern world, having a free mind can be an enviable achievement. The mind wants to be free, but we’re inundated with so many modern-day mind toys that instead of seeking to be independent thinkers, we join the masses that are part and parcel of the culture. Our freedom to think and respond with sincere thought and vision is no longer evident. In many cases, our free will has been replaced by other persons’ thoughts.

      Our world today is in a war for the minds of the masses. The mass media, primarily the television with its hundreds of channels, can keep a person locked into forty-eight inches of platinum for hours at a time. Tony, a

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1