I thought it appropriate to put this thing on here:
John Lewis died yesterday. He was an American politician, a civil rights leader and a member of the Democratic Party. He participated in the early freedom rides for which he was subjected to beatings. He participated in the Nashville sit-in's. He was also a prominent participant in the Selma Bridge crossing for which he, once again, was beaten.
You don't have to think about politics to admire or reject this guy. Think of him instead as a human being with an enormous amount of courage and dignity in his fight to be recognized as a man and as a human being.
You see, John was black.
But you might think he was a Liberal or too aggressive in his fight for equality in this modern era. So I wonder about each of us and our beliefs. So many of us are proud of our parents and upbringing. We learned things from our parents and try to live up to their example and value system. It is ingrained in us. And I wonder how many of us have actually rejected our upbringing, to become a different person; perhaps the opposite of what our parents were. It is a psychological hard-wired light that is on at all times. And to change requires deep introspection, the recognition of your core nature and the commitment to reject it in favor of something different. It requires that one practice this new way of thinking every day.
So to judge John Lewis by his politics is to decide whether or not his upbringing and life's experiences are a valid point of view. And it is. He lived in America. He lived the horror of Jim Crow. And it burned deeply into his soul. He was a not just a witness. He was also a victim. And to expect anything less from him but a mission to change our country permanently is not realistic. It is who he was.
The method of change on a grand scale typically takes methods that are not normally prevalent in our daily lives. We are busy and we like the certainty of our routine. But John did not like that routine. So he had the uncomfortable route thrust upon him and he maintained discomfort. Except he chose to include us in that discomfort. Why?
Because comfort doesn't enable change. It enables the status quo. It enables looking the other way. It enables rationalization that what others are feeling are somehow their own fault and not the fault of external forces.
Well, John felt those external forces and they weren't his fault. And he did something about it. He risked his life over and over again. And then he became older and decided to live this reality and mission as a leader and an advocate for peace.
But you may say agitation is not peace. Neither is war. But to get to the other side of the breech, where the vision of peaceful life exists, one must first battle the impediments that are in the way.
John entered the breech because he was thrown into it.
And now he dies an American hero.
No matter if he was a Liberal or any other label you may affix upon his legacy.
He didn't ask for this. Somebody forced him to live this way. And there was no way he was going to reject what he knew to be true and what he learned from his parents.
I honor him today.
