we shall overcome

I didn’t really plan to celebrate this holiday. But it does have a way of getting to me, somehow. So when I got into the car and heard the “I have a dream” speech airing, I decided to be intentional about listening to it. I turned up the volume and began to speak the words along with him. Surprisingly, this solitary exercise brought tears to my eyes. It reminded me of years ago, when I was just out of college and attending an inner city church. Each year we had a wonderful commemoration of the day, all holding hands as we sang together, “We shall overcome . . .” Each time we did this I would start to cry, not knowing really where the tears were springing from.
This afternoon, after the radio speech had finished, I ran into a road block and soon realized that the reason for it was the MLK Jr March. As I was running ahead of schedule I decided to see if I could join in. It was a simple thing, really, to walk along with the march, but it really made my day. I just grinned as I walked, feeling the thrill that comes when you know you are participating in something meaningful. After just a few minutes of walking, I also ran into an old friend from high school. For several blocks we walked along, catching up. Then I left the march and headed back to where I had parked. As I walked back, the wrong way, along the road, I saw two high school students, in band uniforms, running to catch up with the rest of the marchers. Guess not everyone today was as punctual as I happened to be :-)