An individual has not started living until
he can rise above the narrow confines
of his individualistic concerns to the
broader concerns of all humanity.
MLK
My grandson, Aiden, and I spent the school holiday together. He is
beautiful with reddish blond hair, light blue eyes, and even has one big dimple
when he smiles. I picked him up at 3:00 p.m. to drive him to my little cottage,
or "my tree house" as Aiden calls it. We make up songs on
the way to my place and sing "Puff," "This Land is Your
Land," though we only know one verse of each. Once we arrive, we have a
plan.
Always one to initiate cooking projects, Aiden told me that
he wanted to make a cherry pie. He began kindergarten last September so
he is starting to understand or at least be aware of some historical events.
Here is a recap of our conversation:
A: Grandma, today is Martin King's birthday.
Me: Oh yes, I know about him, Aiden. He was a good man.
A: He was shot dead. Then he died.
Me: I remember when it happened. It was very sad.
A: Did you know he was in JAIL, Granma?
Me: Yes. I did.
A: Why was he in jail, Grandma? ( his Auntie Holly is a sheriff
who works in the jails so he fascinated by the good guy/bad guy thing.)
Me: He broke a law, but it was a very bad law. Do you know
what an unjust law is , Aiden? Some white people thought they were better than
black people so they wouldn't let them eat in restaurants or drink from the
same water fountains...there were terrible mean laws just for black people. He
went to jail to change the laws so that they said we are all good, not matter
the color of our skin.
A: What's dead mean? Is Martin in heaven, Grandma?
Round and round we went trying to make sense of a good man, trying
to change bad laws, getting arrested, sent to jail, being shot dead, and then
ending up in heaven.
And then we made pie. It was a very good day.
