Alive Time or Dead Time? An Inspiring Story about Malcolm X Told by Robert Greene.

Given his rough upbringing and circumstances, Malcolm was imprisoned for robbery from 1946 to 1952, from which he endured the most critical time of his life, leading to the African American movement and human rights.

Until that point, Greene noted, “The world took everything away from Malcolm X except for one thing; his ability to turn his jail sentences into an alive time.”

In his Autobiography, X explains that, the defeat, the heartbreak, and the losses he’d experienced, contained in them the seeds and lessons on how he could improve as a human being.

“To have once been a criminal,” X stated, “is no disgrace. To remain a criminal is the disgrace.”

With his newfound moral virtues, X ended up turning those six years of agony and despair into what Robert Greene later recalls, as “Alive Time.” He had nothing else to do with his time but to think, learn how to read, and ultimately shred away to a better version of himself.

The conversion of Malcolm X’s story compelled Mr. Greene to say that “Many serious thinkers have been produced in prisons, where they have nothing to do but think.”

Alive Time or Dead Time?

Not only did X start examining his life, but also that of human nature and everything else in between.

X would come to realize that “People don’t realize how a man’s whole life can be changed by one book.”

Again in his Autobiography, X points out that he could spend the rest of my life reading, just to satisfy his curiosity. Given that he did not grow up around good role models, these books then became his foundational blueprint.

“My alma mater “ he would later say, “was books and a good library.”

His reasons were that he had enough.

As he’d put it in his Autobiography, “I’ve had enough of someone else’s propaganda…

I’m for truth, no matter who tells it.

I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against.

I’m a human being first and foremost; as such, I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity.”

…

Robert Greene remarked that “Mr. X could’ve easily misused his time in jail. There were plenty of reasons for him to become bitter. Going after those who wronged him. Out for blood, as they say in the West. But he didn’t.” Instead, he went on a journey of self-discovery, of re-invention.

The wisdom, the knowledge he’d acquired, led him to a better mental model.

 As American writer Joan Didion, put it, “It is the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s life, that we tap into the source from which self-respect springs.”

You get to decide whether the things that happen in your life are happening to you or are happening for you.

Author Ryan Holiday, put it beautifully when he says “We forget, In life, that it doesn’t matter what happens to you or where you came from. It matters what you do with what happens and what you’ve been given.”

In closing: May the force be with you, and thank you for reading. Also, keep in mind this concept of alive time or dead time within reach when you feel unmotivated, inspired, or upon facing challenges.