Yesterday, Coretta Scott King died at age 78. For the past 38 years she has been the widow of civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr. After his death, she founed the King Center in Atlanta, she convinced Ronald Reagan to claim MLK's birthday a national holiday, and what I notice today--she worked both here and in South Africa to fight against apartheid until its demise in 1994.
Last night in his state of the union address (in which he compared the Burmese people to those of the middle east in terms of human rights and freedom), Bush opened by saying "Today our nation lost a beloved, graceful, courageous woman who called America to its founding ideals and carried on a noble dream. Tonight we are comforted by the hope of a glad reunion with the husband who was taken so long ago, and we are grateful for the good life of Coretta Scott King. Minus his sorry use of adjectives such as "glad reunion" and "good life", I was moved to tears by the President's words of acknowledgement of such a woman. The idea that she "called America to its founding ideals" leaves me really thankful for her life. Whether or not that calling has transcended generations, political changes, and social issues of our day, she spoke truth into one part of injustice: racial segregation.
Racial issues baffle me from a moral stance, but I see their likelihood from a human stance. We all find something to make us feel more superior than others, whether we want to or not. For the deep South, for white South Africa, for the Burmese people and the chaos of the past: the holocaust in germany, the balkan conflicts, the palestinian/israeli terrors, the death of millions in rwanda, cambodia, and many other unnamed countries---for all of these places have suffered the unjust and baffling power struggle spawned from the adjectives such as "different", "unique", "poor", "dead offspring". Some people really are able to walk through the world killing everything around them just by their anger, and the manifestations that anger takes.
Andrew Young, a former UN ambassador, former mayor Atlanta, and friend of the King's said of Coretta: "She was born for the breadth and depth of responsiblity she incurred as the wife of MLK Jr. She was strong, if not stronger than he was. She was born for this struggle."
I wonder, are some people born for such struggles, such battles? Are some people born to die for a cause such as this? History seems to believe so.
I hope you can stop today and thank someone for their sacrifice to make your life a little better.
9 comments:
in the spirit of your advice to thank someone for thier strength or for thier sacrifice- How about your sacrifice? I am thanking you for yours. As a consistent, soldier for Christ and all that is good and just- you are born for your calling. You should remember that when faced with adversity. Overseas Jill Caroll is faced with this and still her cause has been made and known. She fights for her life in the face of monsters who kill for thier voice, not use her for hope and a voice. I thank you and Jill for your dare-to-do attitudes. She would immerse herself outside of the green zone in Iraq and across the country. She put herself in harms way on a daily basis- to get the real story. This is true for you as well. Foreign countries, cultures are not with much patience. You serven them well, Ashley. I am very proud of you. I love you very much.
Abby
Check out the beginning of Jeremiah, in chapter one:
The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
"Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."
But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.
[skipping to v. 18]
Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD."
All this to say, yes, some people, in fact, all people are "born for such struggles, such battles." What were you born for?
AR
reminds me of isaiah 49, the chapter God used to keep me from going back to asia. it starts with a similar introduction, and i felt God using it specifically for me.
does AR stand for andy ross?
We are born for it, dear friend. I believe it with all my heart.
Yeah, AR is Andy Ross. That was me. I am slow getting back here, so you may never see this. But that's OK.
Andy Ross
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