Rememberance III

On this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 

I'd like to remember the man himself as related through the eyes of my friend and one time business partner, Jim Coleman. In between tours of duty, a Marine in Vietnam, Jim had and took the opportunity to serve as a body guard for Dr. King. Jim once told me, with a tear in his eye, that he felt "that if everyone in the world could have shook Dr. King's hand this world would be a very different place."  Jim would recall King's humor, that he often took pleasure in simple practical jokes, like rigging a matchbox  with a single match and a rubber band, so that when someone asked for a light, opening that trick box, they'd startle with the split second of propeller action achieved by coiling the one stick into the closed cover. I hear that one never grew old for him, though it only ever 'worked' on those newest to the entourage.




Thirty years after King's death, Fr. Dan Berrigan, myself and a dozen others were arrested outside the U.N. Headquarters  for an act of non-violent civil disobedience, protesting the sanctions on Iraq, specifically, the embargo on medical supplies.

Two years later I entered the Gandhi-King Award ceremony at U.N Headquarters to find that my name was removed from the guest list. Knowing enough of those present it was no problem proceeding to the event, but it did seem somewhat ironic that my action two years prior could have resulted in being kept from that Award ceremony.

It's hard for me to know for sure just how far we've come. Having known black teens in Harlem, (NYC) in the 1990s, who did not know who Martin Luther King was, it's not at all clear to me that the progress we assume and depict is actual. 

My hope for us today is that we see Martin down off the podium and back on the pavement with us. That we continue to glean inspiration from his example while acknowledging his (and thus our identical) humanity, and remember to enact the levity which does help make the bearing of tremendous burdens possible.