Farewell Rosa

Good evening to all,
hope your day was a good one.

Imagine, a small, modestly frail woman, on her way home from work or shopping, simply riding a city bus. Imagine a man, also riding the bus, deciding he needs the woman's place where she is seated. Now imagine the woman not being able to say anything (by law) about her being expected to surrender her seat on the bus to the man, and stand from the remainder of her trip, even with her feet hurting from walking. It all sounds so strange when the elements of race, and our knowledge of racism in America, are removed from the story, almost to the point of being unthinkable as most would think it to be rude or ungentlemanly for a man to expect a woman to stand while he took her seat. However, for African-Americans living in the South, life under "Jim Crow" segregation was a terrible reality, their place in citizenship reduced to at most a second-class existence. Now it's time for me to imagine something, I imagine a scene where the woman simply moves, and stands for the remainder of her bus ride, quietly accepting the way things were, though so blatently unjust. Had the woman simply moved, I wouldn't be typing this today....

On a cold December day in 1955, Rosa Parks didn't quietly go along with the unjust social norms of the Southern town in which she lived, instead she decided to say "No", a word none of us can imagine not being able to say for fear of being arrested. That one word, calmly said by a woman who was just tired and wanted to sit, sparked a string of events that would inevitably change the world for an entire people, the Civil Rights Movement had begun. For whatever reason she said her "No", I applaud her courage, and celebrate her life in how she contributed to this country and our society. On October 24th, 2005, fifty years since her bus ride that day, Mrs. Rosa Louise McCauley-Parks passed away. Her life exemplifies the American love of freedom, our ability to choose the course of our actions, and the expectation of respect, along with the ability for persons of any race to simply live their lives. I don't believe Mrs. Parks thought about all of that while she did what she did, but she did no less than what you or I would have done in a similar circumstance, the difference was that she did it under threat of arrest. None of us can imagine that today, and in a way we owe that to her.

I'm not African-American, nor do I pretend to understand how it must feel to be subjected to blatent racism, though I can imagine how insulting such a thing might feel. I believe it's amazing to see how the actions of one person can provide a spark to get things going in the right direction, peacefully. I'd like to say that the Rosa Parks story provides hope for all who wonder about the importance of their own lives.

Rest well Rosa,
with all my respect and thanks.