Reply #89: Thank you for posting this, countryjake, and my deepest thanks to all who have posted here. [View All]

[Sapphire Blue]

You are truly the beautiful community that my mom spoke of.

countryjake, the Grapes of Wrath was one of my mom's favorite movies.

One of her favorite lines was:

"I been thinkin' about us, too... about our people livin' like pigs, and good rich land layin' fallow. Or maybe one guy with a million acres and a hundred thousand farmers starvin'. And I been wonderin' if all our folks got together and yelled..."

- Tom Joad, in The Grapes of Wrath: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wke1RBvcNQ


You know, I been thinkin' & wonderin', too.

She posted it here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=662949


It seemed to hurt her down to her soul to see all the injustice in the world, as if she carried all that weight on her shoulders. She taught my brothers & me never to turn our backs on injustice, never to look away, always to do something, anything, to try to change things for the better.

One of my earliest memories of her was going downtown and seeing an elderly woman without a coat. It was winter and snowing. She took off her coat and gave it to the woman. When I said, "Mama, you'll be cold!", she answered, "I'll be warm when we get home. This lady doesn't have a home. She needs this coat." I've always remembered those words, words that she lived by, words that she guided my brothers and me with throughout our lives.

Before she passed away, she told us: "I know that you're going to miss me when I'm gone. Shed your tears, then open the door and look outside; there's a whole world that needs your attention, a whole world that needs fixing. Do whatever you can, in any way that you can, whenever you can. So many people need you desperately." We live by those words. I sincerely hope that you all do, too.

Much love and thanks to all,

Indigo