Let’s face it, black holes are scary.

Out there, in the depths of space, are objects so dense that they consume anything that comes near them.

A passing asteroid? Consumed.
A planet and its system of moons? Gobble-gobble.
Matthew McConaughey floating by doing alright, alright, alright? Of course.

But there’s a certain term associated with black holes that I’ve always found fascinating.

Event Horizon.

It’s the “point of no return.” The location in space around the black hole that, when passed, cannot be returned to.

It’s the tipping point into the mouth of the space monster from which you can longer escape.

And once caught by the gravitational pull of the black hole, the course is set. There is no deviation from the path going to the center.

Cool stuff, huh?

What I always equate this concept to in real life is that of expectations. Expectation from family, friends and society, specifically, about what one can (and cannot) accomplish.

But first and foremost, the expectations we have for ourselves.

This is because once we go beyond that Event Horizon called Limitation, your course is set, and you’re on your way into the center of an Expectation Black Hole. There is no escape.

I saw this first played out in High School, where everyone was in a crowd: the jocks, the brains, the drama kids, etc. And once you’re in a crowd, expectation and limitation are put on you, governing how you behave, who your friends are, and who you are. Your course is set. You’ve gone beyond the Event Horizon.

Worse, however, is what society has done (or attempted to do) to segments of its population. It has placed the “limitation of expectation” on people depending on where they grow up and how well off they are.

But mostly, the limitations are about race.

More specifically about being black or Hispanic.

What are these limitations I speak of?

Access to bank accounts. Access to voting rights. Access to a government-issued ID. Access to the Internet. Education. Incarceration. And so on, and so on…

And because of these limitations blacks and Hispanics go beyond the Event Horizon, almost immediately, and have a course set for failure. Or at the least struggle of limitations.

Their destination is a Black Hole called Victimhood.

And to that and all those limitations I say horsesh*t.

There are no limits. I’m typing this blog post on an iPad with orders of magnitude of computing power more than was used to get a man on the Moon. I’m typing this in Arkansas and you’re reading this somewhere hundreds or thousands of miles away. We don’t know each other but we’re communicating.

Because Event Horizons in space affect chunks of rock floating in the middle of nowhere. You, whether you’re black, white, brown, or some shade in between, are not or block of space rubble. You’re a part of the most advanced human beings this planet has ever known.

So stop limiting yourself. And if you know someone or something that insists you have a limitation, get rid of them from your life.

Because there is one definite Event Horizon awaiting us all.

Death.

And before you cross that threshold into the Great Unknown, you might as well have set your own course to get there.