I've been helping Kt all weekend with her Connecticut report. It's been long and arduous!! Trying to help a second grader type, find useful information, not perseverate on how to get our hands on a mountain laurel leaf... I'm very, very tired. It doesn't help that Tony went into work last night at 9:30 and now, at almost 5 PM, he is still at work. It's been brutal for him...
We had a brief discussion last night about the possibility of heading down to DC to pay our respects to the American Heroine, Rosa Parks. It would be such an honor to do this, especially with our children. We did not take them downtown to see Ronald Reagan after hearing how long the lines were. Em, especially, would not have been able to handle it in the heat at that time. T and I decided this time, as well, would not be possible. With his work this weekend, Halloween tomorrow (I'm the party mom!), Kt's project to finish because it's due, of all times, on Tuesday morning! After going around all our options we finally gave in to the fact that we would miss this monumental piece of history that is taking place in our own backyard.
I have to say, this is one of the few times I can say that I'm truly happy about a decision made on Capital Hill. Most of the time I'm just disgusted with politicians, but this time they got it right. I remember hearing about Rosa Parks as a child and not really understanding what she did. I understood that she was black and she wouldn't get up for a white man. I didn't understand how brave she was to break an unjust law, how humiliating life must have been for her and thousands of other "minority" men and women of her day, to live with constant daily reminders that they were somehow inferior to people of a different race. We will never know, never understand what life was like for Rosa Parks, we will never have to walk a day in her shoes. It is such an honor for our country to have been taught a very big lesson by a very strong woman.
What we make me even prouder would be to say that no citizen of America or any other country has to face this kind of injustice because of Rosa Parks, but that would be a bit presumptuous on my part. Being married to someone of another race has opened my eyes to a world of injustice that I, in my very sheltered, very nondiverse upbringing, never realized existed and never experienced in any understandable fashion. I'm ashamed to admit that if I'd ever experienced injustice towards someone of another race I was more than likely the deliverer of that injustice. Maybe not knowingly, and certainly out of complete ignorance. Ignorant. That's a really good word for someone like me, and for someone like Rosa Parks, it was time to educate the ignorant.
I have plenty of things to teach my girls about Rosa Parks. She stands for so much more than just civil rights. She is an ambassador of freedom for "minorities", women, working class. She embodies the rights of citizens from all walks of life, empowers each of us to stand up for something we see and know is wrong. I can't think of anyone more deserving to be honored in the Capital as she. As always, though, I wish she could be here to experience this honor. We can all honor her, even if we can't make it to the Capital, by practicing what she stood up for, equality for every American citizen, no matter their race, gender or religious beliefs.
We had a brief discussion last night about the possibility of heading down to DC to pay our respects to the American Heroine, Rosa Parks. It would be such an honor to do this, especially with our children. We did not take them downtown to see Ronald Reagan after hearing how long the lines were. Em, especially, would not have been able to handle it in the heat at that time. T and I decided this time, as well, would not be possible. With his work this weekend, Halloween tomorrow (I'm the party mom!), Kt's project to finish because it's due, of all times, on Tuesday morning! After going around all our options we finally gave in to the fact that we would miss this monumental piece of history that is taking place in our own backyard.
I have to say, this is one of the few times I can say that I'm truly happy about a decision made on Capital Hill. Most of the time I'm just disgusted with politicians, but this time they got it right. I remember hearing about Rosa Parks as a child and not really understanding what she did. I understood that she was black and she wouldn't get up for a white man. I didn't understand how brave she was to break an unjust law, how humiliating life must have been for her and thousands of other "minority" men and women of her day, to live with constant daily reminders that they were somehow inferior to people of a different race. We will never know, never understand what life was like for Rosa Parks, we will never have to walk a day in her shoes. It is such an honor for our country to have been taught a very big lesson by a very strong woman.
What we make me even prouder would be to say that no citizen of America or any other country has to face this kind of injustice because of Rosa Parks, but that would be a bit presumptuous on my part. Being married to someone of another race has opened my eyes to a world of injustice that I, in my very sheltered, very nondiverse upbringing, never realized existed and never experienced in any understandable fashion. I'm ashamed to admit that if I'd ever experienced injustice towards someone of another race I was more than likely the deliverer of that injustice. Maybe not knowingly, and certainly out of complete ignorance. Ignorant. That's a really good word for someone like me, and for someone like Rosa Parks, it was time to educate the ignorant.
I have plenty of things to teach my girls about Rosa Parks. She stands for so much more than just civil rights. She is an ambassador of freedom for "minorities", women, working class. She embodies the rights of citizens from all walks of life, empowers each of us to stand up for something we see and know is wrong. I can't think of anyone more deserving to be honored in the Capital as she. As always, though, I wish she could be here to experience this honor. We can all honor her, even if we can't make it to the Capital, by practicing what she stood up for, equality for every American citizen, no matter their race, gender or religious beliefs.
No comments:
Post a Comment