I Have a Dream

Every year on the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday the boys and I talk about the Civil Rights Movement and why we have a school holiday on the 3rd Monday of January. We look at a book I bought at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, entitled, "Free At Last", which offers a brief history of the Movement from slavery until 1968 and chronicles the lives and deaths of forty civil rights pioneers. It begins with the Reverend George Lee and finishes with the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. We choose one or two of the bios to read and look at the captions on the photographs.

Each year their perspective changes and they ask different questions than the year before. What remains unchanged is their absolute horror and disbelief that children were bombed to death in churches and "brown skin" people were attacked by law enforcement officers and dogs. Without fail they marvel at the idea that Jackson would not be allowed to go to school or play rec basketball with his buddy, Dante, or that Braeden would never be allowed to spend the night with Jacob Scales, his best friend since pre-school. And every year their disbelief gives me hope that "the times, they are a-changin'".

I am not sure when I became such a liberal, leftward-leaning Democrat; it could have been a rebellion against my parents politics or the experiment they conducted by putting me in Christian Academy during my middle school years. But, honestly, by then it was already too late. My limited exposure to the conservative Baptist church my grandparents attended had already left an impression, just not the one they intended it to leave. I realized at a very young age that everything, literally, every thing that I was interested in, was going to send me straight to Hell. I loved short skirts and tall boots, movie stars and rock n' roll, boys and flavored lip glosses and louder rock n' roll.

Because I was the only granddaughter on my Dad's side, my evangelical Papaw tried to love me, but I was just too much. Perhaps as a  foreshadowing of my future career in mediation, I once told him that when I grew up I could just be a Go-Go Dancer who sang Gospel Music. Unfortunately, his brand of Christianity didn't lend itself to negotiation or seeking middle ground. So I grew up viewing organized religion (as it was practiced around me) as a hypocritical exercise designed to confine female energies and stifle free thinking.

This view was only reinforced by the rules I encountered at Christian Academy. I continued to excel academically, but I was not allowed to belong to the National Honor Society because I answered their application questions honestly....damn, that rock n' roll. It seemed that the administration was more concerned about the length of my skirt than the measure of my character. Fear was their operative language, opposed to the wondrous love of their Saviour. Unfortunately, I allowed these experiences to bias my thinking to the point that I became prejudiced against those I deemed to be narrow-minded. And this prejudice continued for many years.

Fortunately, in my "adult" life (I know, it is an oxymoron) I have consistently encountered beautiful souls who also consider themselves to be devout Christians. They concern themselves with loving action, not damning rhetoric; they embrace diversity and live their witness. Along side their church members, they pack Angel Food boxes for the hungry, tutor in the elementary schools, sponsor Scout troops and send mission teams into the community to build ramps for neighbors who have become wheelchair bound....all in the name of Christ. The Dalai Lama has been quoted as once saying, "My religion is simple. My religion is Love." That is a dogma I can subscribe to and I assure you that  putting that "simple" religion into practice is a full-time gig.

It hasn't escaped my attention that a child was killed in Arizona last week at a political gathering where a female politician had recently called for more civil political dialogue. It is time for those of us who have moved back toward the center to get involved...regardless of the labels on our "religions" or our "politics". We have a legacy to fulfill for our children's sake...And today, as a day committed to service, seems like an honorable place to start. Now if I can just find my fringed skirt and my white Go-Go boots....