Do You Remember?

I had intended to write about the fact that in three weeks this bourganvilla went from not one bloom to this profusion of beauty.

But, then, I realized what today is - April 4th and memories flooded into my mind.  I didn't realize until the news was on tonight that it had been 45 years.

Forty five years ago this evening Martin Luther King was assassinated.  Where were you?
Do you remember?  Most people do.

My husband and I, who lived in Baton Rouge at the time, were on our way across the Mississippi River to pick up a cocker spaniel puppy for our three children.

We heard the announcement on the radio.  Stunned, when possible, we pulled over to the side of the road and just stared at each other.  How could it be?  Another death.  Who could understand that a man of peace, who was smeared by the FBI and other agencies, could be dead also.

We just had a hard time comprehending and understanding how this could keep happening.
JFK, Bobby and now Martin.

Guns were not as plentiful back then.  Homicide rates were not as they are today.  A shock.

My husband was angry.  The beautiful thing of that is that he was raised in the South - in Mississippi.
Yet never in the sixteen years we were married did I ever hear a racial slur or unkind word said about someone with less then us or different then us.  I respected him so much for that beautiful part of his character.

We raised our children in the same way.  To be color blind and to hold up all those around us - equality and tolerance of differences.

Just today, my college age granddaughter took a stand about something that the Student Senate at Texas A&M has done.  I just smiled and thought to myself, I'm blessed to see these young people grow up with belief in equality and tolerance just as their parents and grandparents believed.

What a proud and cherished moment.

There IS hope that some day equality in all areas of life and tolerance of differences might occur.