mlk

happy 79th birthday a few days late, martin luther king.

i sure wish you were with us still, to see obama's inaugeration.  my minister told us yesterday about the time you were stabbed at a book signing and would have drowned in your own blood had you sneezed.  and how a little girl wrote you a letter saying "i'm so happy you didn't sneeze."  you later gave a speech saying you were happy you didn't sneeze, too, since if you had sneezed you would not have been around to see the student lunch counter sit-ins in 1960.  and how when students started sitting in you knew they were really standing up for the best in the american dream. 

and how if you had sneezed, you wouldn't have been around in 1962 when black people in albany, ny decided to straighten their backs and won a desegregation campaign.  and how you said that "whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they're going somewhere, because a man can't ride your back unless it's bent."  i think you have a point, there.  i also think i could use a little back-straightening myself.  so today i'm going to meditate about back-straightening in your honor and memory.

and even though you aren't with us to see our first black president take office, you did say we would get there.  we aren't there yet, of course, but now we don't have to tell children that it's possible for a black person to be president, do we?  they will already know.