The Grand Canal had slipped by. Our cruise ship was just leaving Venice.
The swells from the ship dwarfed the tiny ripples caused by the hosts of small boats that kept their safe distances. Their occupants looked upward and waved goodbye to all of us crowding the railings. Of course, we returned the gestures. But, were we waving back and forth just to be waving? Something automatic. Being polite. After a few more waves, I stopped and simply watched. Did my wave really matter among all the waving? The ship left the harbor.
Later that evening, while at sea, an announcement came that Rosa Parks had died. That was October 24, 2005.
The thought washed over me of the unmistakable signal that a black seamstress had conveyed to a watching world. Hers was a seemingly simple gesture of defiance in refusing to relinquish her Alabama bus seat to a white man. Folklore has it that she was tired. Not true. Hers was a transformational act of bravery.
Hers was an intentionally dangerous move, born out of acts of imbedded cruelty and humiliation. I remember standing by that very bus stop in Montgomery, reading the bronze commemorative plaque.
The gentle wave she began, watched by many - grew immense in size and intensity. Distant shores were rocked. Decent people around the world were being encouraged in their longings and efforts to be brave and daring risk-takers. Rosa was the spark that set off the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Now - in each day that goes by, grows the awareness of an irrepressible reality that people of the world are interwoven in a common fabric.
Always have been.
- Dedicated to the legacy of Rosa Parks who died at home in
Detroit, Michigan on October 24, 2005 at the age of 92. Rosa
became the first woman to lie in state in Washington, D.C.
She is a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
No comments:
Post a Comment