Heroes

Its probably not a good idea to present the scene of a death while celebrating the birth of a life but I think it may round things out.
This is a view of the the Lorraine Hotel where Dr Martin Luther King Jr. stayed in Memphis while trying to encourage the (mostly black) sanitation workers with their strike against the city for decent wages and working conditions. It is one of the few public places where blacks could stay in that city in 1968. Behind this facade is the newer 50's style motel structure which is seen in photos of his shooting. It still exists today and is transformed into a civil rights museum. This is about 5 blocks from Beale Street which is a blues center well worth visiting, as is Memphis.

Dr. King is one of my heroes. . . . and I do not pick my heroes lightly. If you are doing your job, flying a plane expertly into water as you have been trained to do or taken a bullet because you thought joining the National Guard was a good idea, you are not necessarily a hero to me; you may be cheapening the concept! A hero to me goes beyond the job, beyond what is expected, beyond unfortunate circumstance by creating his own circumstance. Looking for trouble, or at least expecting it, in the exercise of a principle and a stand against injustice. Engaging in an activity that you do not have to engage in, because it may result in a higher good--asking for trouble to prove a point.

And I do include those "freedom riders" who went south in the 60's to engage ignorant haters with non violent example and were shot and buried in levee soil to reward their efforts. And she willing to defy an easy life by tending to the sick of Calcutta; and those who deal with death each day and try to keep sane in an insane world. The fellow who stood in front of the tank in Tiannamin Square, 1989, and the soldier who says: "I refuse to kill for a government or anyone who expects that this will solve a problem".
These are my heroes. God bless them for they are our only hope for a better future; may we each aspire to be such.