martin luther king day has got me thinking about courage.
i usually think about him, or his inspiring words,
i spose you can't think about him without thinking about courage.
but i don't know, today i'm stuck on all those people who
put themselves right out there to get hated, beaten, and even killed
to change something that needed changing.
i mean, it's really grabbed me.
their astounding courage.
i don't know as i would ever have that kinda courage.
i have thought that plenty of times.
when i read those stories, or see those things portrayed in
movies or documentaries, i'm always just so taken with the
strength in those people.
today, it's just magnified a bit in my mind, i think.
and that's one of the things i really want to hold and honor.
the few times in my life i've shown what looking back seems like courage,
i didn't find it courageous at the time.
i was completely scared, but gonna do what i had to.
i was focused.
multiply that by 1,000 and you get what those people who changed our
world musta been feeling.
i'm also thinking about the oppressors today.
the only way i can really do that is by taking the people in my life
who have felt like oppressors to me. then i can grab some of the
attributes and kinda look at them a bit.
do oppressors know they are oppressors?
or do they have it twisted, justified and righteous in their own minds.
i'm guessin' they don't know and they've got it righteous.
(more often than not)
that's been what i've seen anyway.
all this time i've thought about how great it is that african american people
finally started a road to freedom. a long one, indeed, but started one!
this is the first time i'm ever thanking dr. king for freeing the oppressors.
or at least......making it so they could be free if they wanted to.
it is by us standing up for what is right and what is good and what is love
that we give everyone the space to do the same.
oppressors included.
what they choose is up to them.
but the door has been opened.
i wonder how many of them found freedom?
4 comments:
Exceptional blog for today, honoring and thinking about courage and MLK. . .and wondering if the oppressors could chose to be free - wow - that hit me - I've always sorta written them off, that's the way they were, etc. . .but yes, they could change, they have the choice. Got me thinking. . .thanks. . .
i never thought about 'em before either, diane! thanks for reading and sharin' my new thought with me......
Ter,
I just finished reading I Am Malala. Throughout the book, I wondered how it was she lived and spoke so courageously when all around her the world was doing it's best to stamp out what she stood for. I questioned if I could be that courageous in the face of such fear. I've been courageous at time, but never put my life on the line, like Malala or MLK and his followers. Fear makes me want to run and hide, not stand up to it. I'm grateful for the ones that say enough is enough and back it up with their lives and words.
amen, merry me. amen.
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