1. “FRIENDS WE’VE LOST ALONG THE WAY”
Written by: Jennifer L. Jackson-Ross, "Queen JSilk of Hearts"
(A FORMER FOSTER CHILD’S VIEWS)
Through my journey in life from the streets and so many of life’s ups and downs and so much
strife;
There have been many friends we've lost along the way. Friends I personnally knew and friends
who have taken a stand for the massive. Most recently I lost my mother, Queen Rosalee G.
Jackson, January 10, 1930 to February 27, 2014. Lost is a word that she would choose not to
use and one that I have come to understand why not to use. Passed, is what she would say.
She passed on spiritually from the physical body that we knew, hopefully into another. In
thinking of the friends we’ve lost along the way (passed on), it brings to mind the
understanding I have obtained when studying Christianity, at funeral services I can recall the
minister speaking about the passing of a love one and that they would always be with us, all we
had to do was call. Listening in the quietness of the day I hear my mother’s voice, I hear her
calling out to me. When I find myself longing for her comfort or advise, I call and she answers.
Passed on, she’s not gone anywhere except out of the body she(her spirit) was housed in for 84
years and passed on into another body.
Being an Orphan, a foster child was a very lonely position to be in. Remembering the cold
nights on the streets and the longing for my mother. And yet today I still mourn and feel
sadness for the time we did not have together but, I realize that some things is out of our
control and had I not been put on the path I was put on, I never would have obtained the
knowledge that I have. Knowledge that helped me get off & stay off the streets and knowledge I
obtained while on the streets that has and will help others do the same. Knowledge that has
shown me a lot of mysteries in life, see hidden agendas and taught me to deal with situations
more appropriately, how to avoid and go around obstacles. I gained wisdom.
In listening to the speeches of our friends that we've lost (passed on) along the way, like the
great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, Former President J. F. Kennedy
whose heart was filled with sincerety no matter what color we were and many others, I not
only understand how their journeys, some very painful, has helped us and help reform our
Nation. Because of them I gain strength, I rise.
Remembering friends we've lost along the way like Michael Jackson who through the messages
in his music brought scores of people from diverse communities & countires together. Toupac,
Biggie and a host of other rappers who in their music kept enlightening us of troubled youth,
troubled communities. Remembering other great artist like Etta James, Little Walter, Zola

2. Taylor, Ray Charles, Muddy Waters, The Howling Wolf, The Temptations, Curtis Mayfield, James
Brown, The Last Poets, Gospel artist, Mahalia Jackson, Rev. Cleveland, most recently Andre'
Crouch and many more from that era and industry, whose music I still listen to and in listening
to it keeps me focused on the accomplishments that industry has made, and that there has
always been a message in our music, beginning from the drums of Africa. I have freedom of
expression.
Yes, remembering friends we've lost along the way, my mother’s, my father's teachings and
others, my grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, “ my babies daddy”, friends of the
people; i.e., civil rights leaders, politicians, entertainers, clergy from diverse religions, in
remembering them I first felt cheated when they left, now I can stop and say thank you and
especially thank you to my mother because I took a little of something from all of them and was
given a lot and that has contributed to who I am today and what I will become in the future. I
KEEP ON PUSHING...