True Talk from 8300

I have a lot of cool guys in my family – my brothers, Kofi and Kojo (the most upstanding boys I know!), and my cousin Albert (truly comical dude).

Then there’s the 8300 squad (from L-R), Jonathan, Emmanuel (aka Biggie aka Da Boss), Sellasie, Josh and Kwame (Kwame have you signed the adoption papers? Hurry up so we can make this official and welcome you to the family!)

I love the 8300 guys (named 8300 after their official location in Vienna, Virginia). They’re my squad, my boys; an interesting and radically cool group of guys. I have had a lot of deep, and wacky ‘true talk’ conversations with the group, labeled ’true talk’ because we believe in openness and direct brutal honesty.

So today, it’s True Talk from 8300. I asked all 5 boys the same set of 6 questions, and their honest and genuine responses are below. Although the 8300 guys are family, best friends, brothers, and have known each other for most of their lives, they’re individuals first and foremost.

Ladies, if you want to have a really good idea of what guys think, and what they want, here are 5 viewpoints just for you!

note: the responses are not in any order. So Goon 1 is not the same person through out.

1.       What is your idea of love? Do you believe in it?

Goon 1: Love for me means completely being yourself with someone and knowing that you’re not being judged. It means trusting someone; even though you’ll go through tough times, you’re there for each other. The more physical part is when you’re with that person you’re happy, you’re excited and everyone can see you’re together and there’s a connection. I believe in love, but not love at first sight. In most cases, love grows, that’s my belief.

Goon 2: Love is what you make it to be. Love is work, more work than people think. Sometimes I think love is temporary insanity, but if you want to, you can definitely recover from it. I’ll believe it when I see it. I think I have seen it but I don’t know if it was real. I think if it was real, I’d still have it. If it didn’t work, then you wonder was it real? So I’ll believe in it when I find the real thing, the lasting thing.

Goon 3: I think love is being able to put someone before yourself, in the sense that you’re sacrificing self satisfaction in light of others’ or someone’s needs. I don’t think it can be captured fully in a few sentences, people write entire books about it. When it comes down to it, it’s being able to put someone in a higher regard, spiritually, emotional, mentally, physically. Yes, I believe in it, as I’ve defined it. It applies to everything.

Goon 4: I think love is two people in a village who haven’t seen anybody else from the city, and therefore decide that each other is the ideal man or woman for them. And there fore they thank God profusely for such a gift, and cling onto the gift with all their minds, body and soul. Yes, I believe that if you’re able to quarantine two people in a village, properly and effectively, they would find this ideal.

Goon 5: I do believe in love, I’ve been in love once, if I’m not still hanging there. My idea of love is a combination of choices and feelings that makes you put your emotions to the forefront of every decision you make in relation to another person. The love for another woman would be that I’m putting some choices ahead of myself and having some feelings attached with those choices. For instance, I would choose to spend time with her than hang out with the boys. It’s a warm fuzzy feeling you get when you’re with someone. It’s a feeling that may not make sense but still feels good.