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Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

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Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day

My son came home from school and told me that he was so grateful for Martin Luther King Jr.

“Mommy, did you know that if he didn’t tell people to be nice to each other, that I wouldn’t have any black kids at my school? I’d only be with other white kids.”

Hmmm. I like his “gratefulness,” I think, although I’ve never known him to use that word before.

I like that he instinctively realizes what a loss it would be to be surrounded by only white kids.

On the other hand, race – as an issue – wasn’t even on his horizon until fairly recently. This shimmering semi-unreal version of King reminds me of his views on Jesus and Santa and Leprechauns. But maybe that’s how it is… George Washington cannot tell a lie, the Revolution was about some tea in Boston, Indian tribes love Thanksgiving, all the other cartoonish and inaccurate things we absorb somehow as children.

How do you choose what (and how) to explain? He’s only 6.

“Yes, King was a very brave and good person. There were a lot of people who fought, and still fight, for equal rights and for fairness and justice for everybody in America. It’s not something that’s all over. He was very special because he was able to say some things in very powerful and compelling ways…. and all his different kinds of work are still going on. He showed us that you can – and should – stand up for what you think is fair for everybody, not just for some people.”

He didn’t know that King had been shot and killed. He didn’t know about Malcolm X. I think he probably heard or saw the “I Have a Dream” speech, but he didn’t really have a context – and frankly, I hate to give him one. Not yet. Let him think – for a while – that the only issue was whether little children should be able to work and play together, no matter how different from one another their appearance might be. He is a loving child, and he understands that.

Any nation that year after year continues to raise the Defense budget while cutting social programs to the neediest is a nation approaching spiritual death. ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

We cannot remain silent as our nation engages in one of history’s most cruel and senseless wars. During these days of human travail we must encourage creative dissenters. We need them because the thunder of their fearless voices will be the only sound stronger than the blasts of bombs and the clamor of war hysteria. ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Missing My Dad

Missing My Dad

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Roy Walter N. Jr

Nov 5, 1935 – Dec 28, 2003

Miss you, Daddy.

Mourning is not forgetting.
It is an undoing.
Every minute tie has to be untied
and something permanent and valuable
recovered and assimilated from the dust.
– Margery Allingham

Gramma

Gramma

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My grandmother, whose 90th birthday will be this March, was admitted into the hospital with congestive heart failure. She lives alone. She suddenly started to feel very weak, and was smart enough to ask a neighbor to take her to the doctor – who immediately admitted her to the hospital. She’s had major heart surgery, so this is a big deal.

She seems to be doing all right at the moment, but that was a big scare. I’m not sure what repercussions there may be.

If you feel so inclined, send out a healing thought on her behalf via your chosen benevolent deity. (For monotheists, please be sure to avoid placing any god above yours – we’re told that he seriously dislikes that).

Water as Fire

Water as Fire

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I’ve been cleaning and reorganizing the house. We are about ready to do some minor renovations and repairs. I had a list.

Had. Yes. But you see, there was this little problem. Our alarm system has been acting funny since we got back. Going off at 3 am, not responding to a turn-off command. We are really, really popular with our neighbors at the moment. We weren’t able to get our protection company to come over and service the thing for at least a week. We weren’t able to find the transformer box to power the system down manually.

Of course, while I was at work and John was teaching, our fire alarm went off.

Evidently the fire department and the police showed up, and broke into the house, and disarmed the alarm system, and made friends with the kitten.

There is some kind of major water leak. The water had gushed down into the basement ceiling, over to the other side of the room and tripped the sensors on the smoke alarm. Yup. Major damage. There goes the house budget again. Sigh.

I think it’s mildly amusing, though, that a flood was interpreted as a fire…