Before today, there was only one other MLK Day weekend that had stuck in my mind. We were on a family ski trip and on the ride north we stopped at McDonald’s. They had the radio on announcing that the United States had just invaded Kuwait. It was a bit surreal being in McDonald’s of all places, hearing George Bush instead of the ka-ching of the registers.
I was in 11th grade and confused how we were going skiing and going to have fun when our country was doing something really not fun. I guess you could say that was the first day I started to think about that continuum we all live on, that small space where we exist and thrive despite all of the horrors and evils and disappointments that life can bring. We thrive because we can see the other end, the end of possibilities and newness and happiness. In order to keep moving forward, we perch ourselves delicately between the good and the bad, aiming more towards hope than towards despair.
I’ll also remember this MLK Day and its long weekend, but for a better reason. Today at 12pm EST, CNN rebroadcast the entirety of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
When the speech started, I had my laptop on in my lap thinking I would be able to tinker away at some things I needed to do, as not to waste a chance to multitask. About a minute into the speech, I closed my laptop and set it aside. Some things need your full attention, this is one of them.
And a few minutes in, I started crying and felt so very different than I did around this time 18 years ago. Instead of feeling estranged and wondering what the hell was going on in a McDonald’s in Virginia, I felt happy and hopeful. I know that tomorrow the wars aren’t going to stop and the economy isn’t going to right itself and that millions of people will still need food, water and shelter.
But today there’s a sliding towards the plus end of the scale away from the minus. Not because tomorrow we’re going to go to bed richer or kinder than the day before, but because tomorrow, for the first time in a long time, we’ll see our country move forward along with us.
This morning I listened to the inauguration ceremony, broadcast on the CBC, Canada’s national station. Probably every other Canadian listened too. We all seem to adore Obama here, and share the feeeling of hope and forward momentum. Quite a change for a country that previously seemed to love USA-bashing just as much as hockey. We can’t wait for Obama’s visit with our hopelessly uncharismatic prime minister arper in a few days.
In the UK too we’ve been given a lift by Obama’s inauguration, and by the immediate initiation of the close-down of Guantanamo Bay. He comes from my church tradition (United Reformed Church in the UK) so I feel a tiny share in him too. If prayer can get things moving, he’s got a lot of power to draw on!
I know this post is a little old, but it resonated with me and I’ve been wanting to respond. I too felt strange and unsettled during the invasion of Kuwait. I was in ninth grade and distinctly remember writing in my journal (in what was likely an overly dramatic way that I would be embarassed by today) about how everyone around me was carrying on like nothing had changed, but the country was at war. I felt helpless to do anything about it but couldn’t simply ignore it and pretend nothing was happening.
I will also remember this MLK day/weekend/week. My 2 1/2 year old and I listened to the inauguration on NPR while in the kitchen baking. I will forever have the imprint in my mind of her listening patiently but asking me every so often to “turn of Barack Obama so I can listen to Johnny Cash.” I look forward to teaching her about this moment when she’s old enough to understand its significance.
On a side note–I love your blog.