Monday, January 16, 2006
Monday Jan. 16, 2006 - Year 3, Day 301 – a dream
sun soon to rise, a ‘dawning of enlightenment’, horizon turning blue under the watchful eyes of a full moon & the morning star, we walked interrupted only by Gusta’s attempts at snow-angels in every fresh patch of white she sees; -6C/21F with a face chilling breeze this morning
his ‘I have a dream’ speech - words that cannot be recalled without hearing Martin Luther King Jr.’s words playing in my brain
that IS immortality
he would by 77 tomorrow & I wonder if he would feel his dream has been realized ?
this morning I was reading BU’s comments in the paper about a government settlement of a class action lawsuit over discrimination against people with developmental disabilities; Bruce, you say such politically correct words now compared to your ‘fire-in-the-belly’ rhetoric you used to be known for as if you feel we’ve come far enough in righting wrongs & making the playing field level – it makes me wonder if you are just embarrassed you were not out in front of that issue calling government to task . . . but it is not your fault alone
we are all complacent
our generation need not wait till it is our turn to run the world; it is our turn & for the most part we sit on our hands
my generation takes comfort in ‘how far we’ve come’, but so much momentum has been lost that it is hard to see that need as profoundly now though inequities & poverty exist outside everyone’s back door; not so graphically today for black people & women though we have far to go; more dramatically for all people who are marginalized – those with disabilities, First Nations Canadians & frail elderly
discrimination in so many forms is minimized by gestures & money & tokenism; in time we get to thinking things are OK, remarking ‘how far we have come’ which makes it easy for most to feel good that progress is being made toward equity
toward equity is a great concept but it is tempered by the speed at which we are traveling
Dr. King & so many others have inspired us to move far & to move fast
we need more dreams, we need more dreamers
Mark
his ‘I have a dream’ speech - words that cannot be recalled without hearing Martin Luther King Jr.’s words playing in my brain
that IS immortality
he would by 77 tomorrow & I wonder if he would feel his dream has been realized ?
this morning I was reading BU’s comments in the paper about a government settlement of a class action lawsuit over discrimination against people with developmental disabilities; Bruce, you say such politically correct words now compared to your ‘fire-in-the-belly’ rhetoric you used to be known for as if you feel we’ve come far enough in righting wrongs & making the playing field level – it makes me wonder if you are just embarrassed you were not out in front of that issue calling government to task . . . but it is not your fault alone
we are all complacent
our generation need not wait till it is our turn to run the world; it is our turn & for the most part we sit on our hands
my generation takes comfort in ‘how far we’ve come’, but so much momentum has been lost that it is hard to see that need as profoundly now though inequities & poverty exist outside everyone’s back door; not so graphically today for black people & women though we have far to go; more dramatically for all people who are marginalized – those with disabilities, First Nations Canadians & frail elderly
discrimination in so many forms is minimized by gestures & money & tokenism; in time we get to thinking things are OK, remarking ‘how far we have come’ which makes it easy for most to feel good that progress is being made toward equity
toward equity is a great concept but it is tempered by the speed at which we are traveling
Dr. King & so many others have inspired us to move far & to move fast
we need more dreams, we need more dreamers
Mark
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