Posts for special days are important to me. They are the thoughts and feelings brought to mind about the day and what it means to me. This post is from another year.

At 33, Martin Luther King was pressing the case of civil rights with President John Kennedy. At 34, he galvanized the nation with his “I Have a Dream” speech. At 35, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. At 39, he was assassinated, but he left a legacy of hope and inspiration that continues today.” from the Seattle Times

I was in high school when I began to notice the world around me in a different way. All of a sudden it was far bigger than my small town. Back then I didn’t know a single Black person. There were no Blacks where I grew up, but a parish priest began to open our eyes and through him we met Black teenagers from Boston. Through them I became aware of social inequities, of Jim Crow and of the struggles of Blacks to register to vote. My friends and I were too young to go South, to march or register voters, but we were more than willing to do small tasks for even they had impact. We worked with SNCC, going door to door to raise money and pass out pamphlets. We worked with the NAACP, again small tasks like going door to door. We did what we could.

Without realizing it, I had developed a social conscience which would forever be part of my life. It helped define what the 60’s meant to me. During college, I picketed and marched for a variety of causes I had come to believe in. I joined the Peace Corps, my recognition that we all have a responsibility to make this world a better place. I still feel the same but even more strongly.

Today I am taking a sick day. I am a bit better but achy and coughing. I have done very little the last few days, but today I have no choice but to get dressed and drag myself to the drug store. I’ll sandwich the errand between naps!!

I’ll be back on Thursday, well I hope.

When I went back to Ghana after 40 years, my students, on my last night visiting where I had lived and taught, sang this song for me. They called it Miss Ryan’s song and said they had been singing it all these years when they get together for events like weddings and reunions. They had learned it from my playing it so often.