"It don't mean nothing, not a thang." This phrase is from one of my favorite war movies Hamburger Hill. It follows an American unit as they try to capture Hill 975 from fierce Vietnamese forces. The battle, on its own was controversial and was just a microcosm of the whole war itself. Anyway, the unit had been fighting for some time before they even got to the hill. They were in pretty bad shape and just got out of a skirmish. The aftermath resulted in one of the men dying. The spirits and morale were low. They started to question the purpose of it all. One in particular "doc" who for the record was black and was just tired of seeing people die.
Another squad member who was black as well, could sense that doc was starting to slip and knew that they needed him in order to survive. He came up to doc and assured him that "it don't mean nothing, not a thang." He repeated. "It don't mean nothing, not a thang." They were exchanging "daps" throughout the process and repeated the phrase until another black soldier came along and joined them. The rest squad looked on. You could see the impact that it was having.
I thought that this scene was very powerful. I also think that we can relate to it during these truly unfortunate times. Let's re-state what we do know. We know that these are men fighting for their lives. We know that they don't know whether or not they will see the next day. We know that a squad mate of theirs just got killed.
Now we have three African American soldiers coming together to support one another. For those who don't know, the Vietnam war lasted roughly from the mid-1960s until the mid 1970s––that's debatable depending on who you ask. During those times, racism and bigotry was still very alive and kicking pretty hard. During the movie these soldiers experience that as well. They had to deal with that along with trying not to get shot and killed by their "enemies".
Wait that sounds pretty American as w––
That's a different conversation, sorry got a little carried away.
The point is, even with dealing with all of this they knew that they had to stay strong. They knew the best way to stay strong was by being strong together.
During these times I know it can be hard to stay positive. I myself have struggled with staying positive throughout all of this. However, don't get down or be too hard on yourself. This could be a good time for you to truly re invent yourself. This could be a time to truly take that step towards being your true self. Those things that you have put off in the past, try thinking about how you want to accomplish them. You're not alone in this. We can all get through this if we remain strong together. Remember "It don't mean nothing, not a thang." We'll get through this, so try to stay strong. Most importantly, stay true. It's ok to be you.
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