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- Go to The beginnings of a Speech that I wrote for a Friend to use on MLK Day
ok, jemz, MWAH, "beijos", as we say in Portuguese......
posted by
benzinha
on January 14, 2005 at 12:26 AM
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Abuelita
The tears I shed at your post were tears, not of sadness, but of pride. You are an amazing woman! You post was beautiful. I feel pride that you are in my life. I feel pride that The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., among others, made a difference in so many people's lives.
*hugs*
So don't you go feeling you made me shed tears of sadness, for you certainly did not.
posted by
Jemmie211
on January 14, 2005 at 12:18 AM
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gosh, jemmie, I try to think of things to help you to stop crying and here
I have added to your tears. I am so sorry.
I just wanted my girlfriend to educate the babies and their young parents in the auditorium about the significance of one man's dreams and one man's actions. We are all powerful people and some use that power by just living highly decent and empathetic lives, others shake up the people around them and demand more of them than they thought themselves capable of.
Nice white boys are sweet and yummy, too, but sometimes that cute Japanese fellow just steals your heart away, no? Wipe your eyes, baby girl, and smile about the good on earth, there is so much of it.
posted by
benzinha
on January 13, 2005 at 1:19 PM
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Wiley Amor, received your email and am about to answer it.
So many females in your life, wink, wink. Have been interviewing for free medical care for six months and hopefully, they will help me to pay my emergency room bill of last month. Sigh....also, out getting my belated flu shot, my guest house neighbor returned from Wisconsin holidays with a bad case of the flu. I have been babysitting his dogs afternoons while he sleeps, poor baby.
I hear that wild weather is coming your way, don't go moving any boulders or anything macho like that while it snows. Okay? I see you inside petting a kitty cat, hot cocoa in the other hand and thoughts of your next book running through your mind.
posted by
benzinha
on January 13, 2005 at 1:13 PM
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Wow, Abuelita, I am speechless
I sit here, tears streaming down my cheeks. This post touched me to my very core. Throughout it all, I had so many memories--good and bad--flowing back into my mind.
- the time I took a Japanese guy to my prom and my aunt asked why I couldn't take "a nice white boy"
- watching the special about the tsunamis that hit Hawaii in the 40s and the 60s, wiping out the same town both times
- the love I hold for so many people of so many ethnicities
- the acceptance my dad showed of all my friends
- the narrow-mindedness that still exists today
I am still crying. I think that if ever anyone could replace the Reverand Martin Luther King, Jr., you could. Your love and acceptance of all people is to be admired. And your eloquence is amazing.
You have truly touched me--heart and soul.
posted by
Jemmie211
on January 12, 2005 at 11:51 PM
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Abuleita
Great post luv, great.
Did you get my e-mail asking you about some of your art and like that?? Hope I didn't offend you somehow my friend. Maybe send me e-mail??
posted by
WileyJohn
on January 12, 2005 at 3:11 PM
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gee ca88andra, frame it. Now that is nice of you. Thanks.
I was out of the country when it happened, in Mexico, and it was such a different tragedy when seen from afar. My sister in America was dating a fellow university student who was black and so, her experience was far different from ours. We explained what happened in each place to each other, to help each other to understand and to share our sorrow.
posted by
benzinha
on January 12, 2005 at 12:33 PM
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No, Talion, you didn't necessarily have to be there to understand it all,
but you had to have it explained to you by relatives who were and have it made real by them, communicating their emotions of each moment in that time, at each step of Martin's human parade and many people did not and do not have that family to explain it to them and so, they don't understand. You are blessed.
posted by
benzinha
on January 12, 2005 at 12:30 PM
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cynthia, there is such a gap between those who experience history in their
daily life and those who come two to three generations later. The 'love' that hippies shared, the camaraderie of the WW II vets, the gaiety of the Flapper era, and the devastation of souls in the Depression, these are shared emotions, not just facts and hard to explain to those who weren't there to feel them. The facts are so alienating when interpreted by later generations who have new social dynamics and group emotions to call upon.
Thanks for the compliments.
posted by
benzinha
on January 12, 2005 at 12:27 PM
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bb, my girlfriend has to add to the speech, talking about today's
problems, bringing Martin's work more up to the minute. She must also make the main theme the word 'unite', as that is the dance theme of the show this year. I only wrote a foundation for her to expand upon.
True, quick fixes are the rule of the day and some things take a little longer to indentify and to problem solve before jumping in to fix.
posted by
benzinha
on January 12, 2005 at 12:23 PM
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I remember crying my eyes out at the news of MLK's death and I was only very young at the time. I would love to frame this - it is excellent!
posted by
Ca88andra
on January 11, 2005 at 7:29 PM
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benzinha
My mother was eight months pregnant with me here in Memphis April 4th of 1968, so technically I missed that period of history firsthand. However, I heard the stories from her, my aunts, and uncle, learned the details not found in history books. Last summer I visited the National Civil Rights Museum, which used to be the Lorraine Motel. I realized you didn't have to be a witness to understand, you didn't have to be there to be a part of it.
posted by
Talion
on January 11, 2005 at 7:16 AM
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Benzinha, you so captured
my feelings about this period. I try to tell the young people who work for me how bad it was then in America. I especially liked how you described, in the first paragraphs, how hard it is to have a sense
of the importance of history.
posted by
Cynthia
on January 11, 2005 at 4:08 AM
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Benzinha - a splendid post and....
not bad at all for the "beginnings" of a speech.
The trouble is now that people look at stamping out problems rather than looking at the source of the problem and trying to do something there.
posted by
beachbelle
on January 11, 2005 at 2:23 AM
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