Growing up in the Bronx, New York, I was raised for the majority of my formative years by my grandparents. My grandfather (Lord, bless his soul) was a very stern and serious man. Both intelligent and compassionate, much of what I have learned about what it means to be a man, I take from him. But, despite this model of merit that I had the privilege of being parented by, it was not the patriarch of our family that left the most lasting impact on me. Instead, it was actually the matriarch of our family, my grandmother, that was responsible for the resounding lessons of life that presently resonate in…