On this truly historic day, I cannot help remembering my sixties youth–I remember Selma, I remember a little girl, walking bravely into a classroom, surrounded by guards, such a tiny little thing, all spruced up for the first day of school, crossing not only a literal threshold, but one of mythological proportions. We all crossed that threshold, willingly or unwillingly. I remember Rosa Parks, and how her feet hurt after a long day of hard work, so she wouldn’t move to the back of the bus. I remember seeing men in sheets on national television, wondering, with a child’s innocent heart, at such ferocious hatred. Wondering why they wanted to cover their faces, disguise their identities. Like I said, I was an innocent child.
Today, whatever side we took in the last election, the most amazing thing happened. The most amazing thing!
These are dangerous times, but they are also times of tremendous opportunity to change. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, we must all hang together from here on out, or we will surely hang separately. We are ALL in trouble. We are all Americans, with a fine tradition of stepping up when challenges came. Like the new President, I sincerely hope we can set aside our petty differences and all work together. Time to put on our big-people underwear, folks, and move on. Push up our sleeves, McKettrick-style, and wade in.
On an entirely different subject, I have a book to recommend. (Not my own, for once.) It’s called “My Stroke of Insight”, and it was written by Jill Bolte Taylor, Phd. It was one of Oprah’s finds–usually I take those with a grain of salt, since the divine Miss O seems to favor unhappy endings–but this one was a right-on choice. The author suffered a severe stroke at the age of 37, and being a brain scientist, she was in a unique position to assess the experience from the inside. She explains the workings of the brain in terms a layperson can understand, and offers some stunning insights. We have more choices than we think we do.
On that note, I close today’s blog.
Happy Tuesday.
