Light
The sky is clear and the wetness is from the fog that has lifted. The temperature is 48 degrees fahrenheit. Today is Monday.
This is a day when light is shining across many lives and communities, in remembrance of a person whose life and death served as a light. The day is a commemoration of yet another individual who rose to a level of public inspiration that actually caused the government to begin worrying. If the message that he was carrying was to be fully understood, then chaos could come into the order that has been carefully built to sustain the the momentum and direction of this society's intent to dominate on the world stage.
Like other individuals who had that same potential, life was cut short. But whenever that happens, there is a period of mourning, demand for explanations, then deep reflection that turns into action. The mourning is initially intense, then diminishes but never extinguishes. The demand for explanations gets caught up in bureacracy, litigation, resistance based on a need to maintain the integrity of on-going investigations. In the meantime, those who were closest in to the targets, held knowledge and kept with determination. The deep reflection turns into many different actions - parade plans, school curriculum, community-based organizations, faith-based dedications, and much more. We who live through the decades of the aftermath of the taking of such a life, have seen all of it. The tragedy turns into even stronger light and inspiration over the years.
The message being carried is the same for all those who were killed before their natural bodies gave way to death. The powerful nature of the message is what caused people to wake up and realize that they were not imagining the harm that was occuring before their eyes - whether it was war, poverty, racism. Each one who tried, without being in a position of dominance, had to bring more creativity, had to have courage to push against convention, and had to be willing to step into vulnerability as the message seeped into the consciousness of a nation.
The message was straightforward, but so straightforward that it was not seen as credible or serious. It was deadly serious: "We are all in it together.". To not understand this fact is to not understand how to survive and flourish in this life.
The ones who carried this message saw a light - and each took a different path guided by that light. Some came from poverty and suffering early in life, some came from privilege, some had talent and luck working for them - and all crossed paths with another messenger, unnamed and unknown, who helped open their awareness of the message that needed to be delivered to the world.
It is not surprising that such a strong light still shines, and to realize we still have a chance to create a world different from what we see today. What would Dr. King have to say about where we are now?