Monday, January 21, 2008

Marching Towards the Future

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the daughters and I went out to march in the annual commemorative march in our community. Today's weather, while still drizzly, was much better marching weather than last year, when I won the Bad Mother of The Year Award for Bringing The Youngest Child to March in Freezing Rain (in my head). This year, there were many more little kids, as it wasn't very cold. Our attempts to participate were not without hitches, however, as trying to do anything with kids in tow tends get complicated.

The Girl Scout flier said to meet at the church at 12:15 to catch the shuttle over to the Courthouse, from where we would march back to the church. We got there early, with a new-to-us stroller and plenty of goldfish crackers, and the first shuttle was leaving. Then the next, supposed-to-be-last, shuttle came a little before noon. Obviously, the Girl Scout flier was off. We were still missing lots of Girl Scouts so we asked if they might wait. They said they would come back one more time. They did and we boarded and got to the Courthouse a bit after people had started to march. With the stroller slowing me down, I brought up the very rear of the March and got back to the Church on the late side as well. I caught sight of some of my fellow teachers and students but couldn't do much more than wave. I thought I might see them afterwards, but the place where they were gathering for refreshments was down a bunch of stairs in a big crowd, so we decided not to try it with the stroller.

It was still a really good experience, though. The Lone Star Girl's troop represented local Girl Scouts with some other Junior Girl Scouts and a lot of Brownies from all over town. I love hearing the Lone Star Baby talk about Martin Luther King, Jr. and how he wanted peace and for everyone to be nice to everyone. At one point, she looked up at me and said Martin Luther King already died, right, Mommy? I told her he had and she looked so solemn. She has started to tell us that she cares about people and wants to help people, which is a big relief to us, since she often reminds us of Children of The Corn, in her charming way. I like to reinforce caring values with her as much as possible, and no one is a better example of caring than Martin Luther King, Jr.

The most beautiful little girls were dancing at the church and there were so many people there. It makes me cry, when I see these earnest children, and wonder what racism and poverty will make of their open hearts in a few short years. We must do more. We must do better.

We'll keep going to marches, and keep trying to teach our kids that there is still so much to do to make this world a fair and peaceful place for everyone.

2 comments:

gojirama said...

Hitches and all, it sounds like a great experience.

Saints and Spinners said...

My daughter was asking about Martin Luther King Jr. in heaven, too. I do wonder if he had lived if he would have been one of our presidents.