Dr. King

Well, I was supposed to go to the celebration/march for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday this morning, but we didn't make it. It's hard to decide what is best for your child when you really want to do something for yourself. I chose her best interest, of course, because that's what a momma does. I hope we'll make it next year.

Tonight we read one of Dr. King's speeches on nonviolence. It's amazing how many dense morsels of goodness he was able to pack into such a short speech. He makes me want to be a better human being. I would love that quality. I hope that someday I will inspire people to be better human beings. What a gift that would be. His words bring so much of my life into perspective. And he encourages me, at the same time, to be who I am: a lover of justice and nonviolence, not who I think I am: a white woman in a white man's world. He encourages me to look beyond the color of my skin, not others, and recognize that I am categorized by my soul and how my soul presents itself to the world. Pretty amazing. In my mind, this is how it makes sense: civil rights is about human rights, not just race. It's about the oppressed standing up and saying, "No, you won't oppress me. I'm a human being. And so are you." It's about justice winning.

I hope my children grow up to be just like him. God bless you, kind sir. Happy birthday.