This occurred to me today...
When I was younger, and watched reruns of Dr. King's speech at the Mall(usually on the "milestone anniversaries"
, I wondered about the hats that the men standing behind him on the podium were wearing. It turns out that those hats were made for dignitaries at the March, to help them keep their heads cool in the blistering D.C. summer sun(if you look closely in the footage, you can see the march name on some of the hats in close up)but as a teenager, I thought that those hats made the men at the podium look like a group of ice cream men or stadium hot dog venders, and this image was somewhat amusing to me as a young person.
But just today, it hit me...
We SHOULD be a country where people like food venders, espresso stand workers, custodians, and manual workers are standing behind the podium, or even SPEAKING from the podium, at major events in history. We SHOULD be a country where the voices of all of these people, of all who spend their lives contributing to the country with little acknowledgement, little respect, and little reward, are heard by all. The truth is, most of us, whatever pretensions we have to the contrary, are far closer to such people...or ARE such people. And our best chance of survival is to recognize that connection and honor it, with others and within ourselves.
= new reply since forum marked as read
but in all colors