Before The Day is Done
The time is always right to do what is right.
Martin Luther King
The things that interested my mother most in her life were peace, people treating one another right, her friends and family, art, cooking, and reading. So naturally when the Civil Rights Movement came, she got right on board. She took me with her as soon as I could walk and talk. Those days were full. She was an activist all her life.I'm not one to bemoan past mistakes. Everybody makes them. I'm just glad right now that there is possibility that I could cast a vote for an African American for President of the United States in the next election, speaking of "one man, one vote". Sometimes it seems that all our struggles are futile, but I know better.
posted by jm at 7:07 PM
13 Comments:
Sometimes it seems that all our struggles are futile, but I know better
You bet jm. i honor your mother and all like her who persevered.
The struggle to ensure the rights of individuals has been on many levels, and in many cases this country has grown dramatically since the 1950's.
A few years ago i attended a national conference for the deaf here on the west coast. At an art exhibit i got into a conversation with a fabulous, spunky artist who i guessed to be about my age. As we got deeper into the story of how her work evolved she revealed that she had spent the first two decades of her life in a mental institution in the south. No one had recognized that she was deaf. She had been diagnosed as profoundly retarded (50's term) and basically tossed away. One, only one, wise individual saw the lights in her and began using art, to draw her out. i was incredulous, she was bright and gregarious and extremely talented.
The power of one can never be overstated.
"Sometimes it seems that all our struggles are futile, but I know better."
Books that King started reading in the 1950s, making notes in the margins, show how his "dream" evolved. The earliest references he made were to shattered dreams, Elizabeth Muller, the exhibition curator, said on Friday.
"There were 10 years of creation before 'I Have a Dream.' You can see all these threads come together in the speech," she said of the speech that capped the 1963 civil rights march on Washington.
Drafts show how King worked on the speech with aides the night before, struggling to get it down to the five minutes allotted to each speaker.
But the speech's landmark final section was delivered extemporaneously after gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who was standing close to King, told him to tell the crowd about his "dream," Muller said.
At that point, King departed from his prepared text and began to speak without notes, weaving together ideas from speeches he had delivered previously and drawing on a deep tradition of African-American preaching.
Full article
Books that King started reading in the 1950s, making notes in the margins, show how his "dream" evolved. The earliest references he made were to shattered dreams
This is wonderful. A lot to ponder. Especially the 10 years of creation. And then the extemperaneous part. All the woven fragments with fate, destiny and desire.
Mahalia Jackson is a favorite of mine. One of the few I really admire. I didn't know this about King, and it's great information for me.
Things are starting to come together just like you described. Very important.
You can see all these threads come together in the speech," she said of the speech that capped the 1963 civil rights march on Washington.
It really was a magnificent moment and it makes one wonder how much a part fate plays. So fluid, no mistakes, yet the sudden inspiration and changes. And the end result going down in history never to be forgotten.
Something is right in this world, and seems to make its presence known briefly and fleetingly. Although the preparation for this moment reveals otherwise.
I also love the image of shattered dreams being put back together. I think once broken and fragmented, when they are pieced back together they are vastly improved, realigned with expertise, and with an inner knowledge that couldn't have come otherwise. And stronger, since the inevitable shattering has passed.
From shattered dreams to I Have A Dream -- it's transformation at its best, from germination to inspiration and rebirth. Sunk deep in the earth, nourished with blood, sweat and tears, finally to rise into daylight as life renewing itself.
"And the end result going down in history never to be forgotten."
Yes, and all the substanceless words and posturings of shallow political players cannot compare to the inner power of authentic leadership when it finally makes itself known.
Gorgeous, kad.
Makes sense with his Sun in Capricorn. The earth, the struggle, the acceptance of the process, the restructuring. The patience and orderly climb back up.
You just described the Tree of Life.
And music was integral from beginning to end. One thing I remember so vividly was the constant circle being formed. Holding hands when they weren't clapping in rhythm.
The cycle you described so beautifully happens every day, every moment is some way. We just see it as a collective when dramatized by the passage of years.
So today's events are part of this passage from root to crown. People in it can't see the whole, except for the few who step back and put it into perspective.
and all the substanceless words and posturings of shallow political players cannot compare to the inner power of authentic leadership when it finally makes itself known.
Hallelujah brother! And it's fully worth the wait.
Those without substance only make the good ones shine that much more after the longing has built to epic proportions it seems.
Great comment.
You know. After this dip, there could be something in the wings of merit. I have flutterings of feeling.
the substanceless words and posturings of shallow political players
I have to repeat how much I love your choice of words in expressing dissatisfaction with leadership. This is why I respect you. The easy, juvenile expression of hate has disturbed me in its magnitude, but this way of putting it gives me confidence. I think saying it like this has more impact. Truer deeper emotion. More believable and in the end, more conducive to bringing results.
Thank you! I'm not speaking so much from fear-based aggression. Describing things as they truly are goes a long way in dispelling fear and illusion.
"And music was integral from beginning to end. One thing I remember so vividly was the constant circle being formed. Holding hands when they weren't clapping in rhythm."
One can see the tremendous strength in the collective focus, the circle that connects and includes, the natural wisdom of the species coming out.
"The cycle you described so beautifully happens every day, every moment is some way. We just see it as a collective when dramatized by the passage of years."
I read this today: "Edward T. Hall, a cultural anthropologist, describes an experiment in Dance of Life where one of his students surreptitiously filmed activities at a playground. When they broke the film down later, running it at different speeds, they found that one little girl who was skipping and cavorting across the playground was synchronizing the subtle movements of each group she came in peripheral contact with, both with her and with each other. A student, recognizing something familiar about the beat, found a particular rock song which fit the soundtrack of her rhythm precisely. Hall theorized, in discussing this with musicians, that music actually may form a type of consensual rhythm for a culture, one of many mechanisms that instruct and reflect how we experience time. But how can we re-program this conditioning if it is largely unconscious?"
The publisher's description of Dance of Life intrigues: "First published in 1983, this book studies how people are tied together and yet isolated by hidden threads of rhythm and walls of time. Time is treated as a language, organizer, and message system revealing people's feelings about each other and reflecting differences between cultures."
Recently, I read that it is the habit of gibbons to approach a potential predator and sing loud warning to other gibbons.
Yes I read about the gibbons too.
And just now I was reading about music in the universe in early studies. They attributed notes to the planets and harmonies among the celestial spheres. They believed there was a musical orchestration unable to be perceived by the human ear.
Well, I think they're right but that it actually can be heard on subtle levels. Musicians are more attuned to these. They have more nerve endings in the musical part of the brain, possibly from exercise, but this is not known for sure.
I do think we hear all the celestial sounds mixed in with the earthly at all times. Messages that are willing to get through.
One can see the tremendous strength in the collective focus, the circle that connects and includes, the natural wisdom of the species coming out.
I love this. The "natural wisdom of the species." You have confidence in the human creature.
There is I believe a consolidation of energy in the fingertips, so when hands connect in the circle the force is exponential. This, I think, is part of the experience in cyberspace as our fingertips tap out the communication. So more than just our thoughts is being sent. Very very satisfying. I think this is why we are so entranced. More energy being transmitted than realized.
music actually may form a type of consensual rhythm for a culture, one of many mechanisms that instruct and reflect how we experience time. But how can we re-program this conditioning if it is largely unconscious?"
Yes. I do think it unites in perception of time and creates an anchor in space. Much like the infant connects to something to ground itself and stop the spin.
Rhythm gives a continuity..a sequence like putting one foot in front of the other. So it balances. Music also brings resolution as it begins, travels out, and comes back. The dominant 7th chord is one of the most satisfying in music and the main one in blues. It can't help but come home. The feeling of this chord is unique and pursued by the human ear. Probably why blues is so powerful. All of music seems to be a travel to some remembered birthplace, maybe. And how can we reprogram the unconscious? By making it conscious. All things are moving to the opposite, so I think it can be done. It would also be good to send some of the current conscious into the un.
people are tied together and yet isolated by hidden threads of rhythm and walls of time
Very interesting. Very. There is a strange combination of unity and separation in music experienced together. Dance is both embrace and combat. Very very interesting.
Music is a universal language, so unification must be one of its aims. I have to think about these walls of time and how they factor in, music being entirely about timing.
Music is so strong in feeling. Perhaps it is a way to feel time.
I'm not speaking so much from fear-based aggression. Describing things as they truly are goes a long way in dispelling fear and illusion.
Yes. Fear based aggression. Amazing they can't own this and work with it. That would be a proper start.
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