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21 February, 2006 - 2:03 a.m.
from Feb 7. written, unposted.

this was written the night before a hate group was to protest at a funeral at the army base here in town... the hate group was protesting against gays, which was unrelated to the funeral and which was generally intended just to get press and cause disruption. some friends had chosen to take part in a counter-protest. i chose to remain at home and not disrespect the family (families?) of those being remembered at these funerals.

on this day, the night before the planned protest against an aweful hate group, please remember the wisdom of Coretta Scott King. Please remember her mission of nonviolent protest. Please remember that she fought for the freedoms of all people, not just for african-american civil rights. Please remember her kindness, grace, and dignity in taking up her husband's cause on the day after he was shot and killed in Memphis. Please remember that her actions were not of hate toward intolerance, but of love for all people.

Please remember that she fought for straights, gays, blacks, whites, asians, latinos, native americans. Please remember that she fought for those in other countries and that she and her husband's work has impacted and inspired people around the globe. Please remember not to act out of anger, but to remember that you know better than the haters do. Please remember that she stood with dignity while the KKK marched outside the MLK civil rights museum at its opening, and did not reach out to them in anger and hate or with violence, no matter how passionately she believed in her cause, and in his.

Please rememeber that she was a human being, too, with needs and feelings, and that she recognized that people who are full of hatred are still human, no matter how misguided. Please remember that she understood that "misguided" was too kind a word to describe what these people were doing.

Please remember the words at her funeral today, which I watched on Fox News because that's where I saw it first... until they cut off Maya Angelou to do commentary, so I changed it to CNN... please remember that her mission was for peace for all people. And that if people can learn over time to accept her race as equal, then surely they can learn to accept whoever you are. Please accept that civil rights and human rights aren't achieved in a day.

Please accept your mission. Please accept that we have a responsibility toward the welfare of all people. Please accept that it is an individual responsibility in the hands of each person on this earth and that you can't expect others to do it for you. Please accept that you will have to work hard to get the results you desire. Please accept that if you don't take up this cause, no one else will do it for you. We'll all sit here waiting for someone to fight for our cause. Please remember to do your part, in whatever way your conscience demands. But please rememeber that fighting for equality and rights does not involve stomping on the rights of others.

Please remember the work of Coretta Scott King, a true lady and the last of her kind. Take her words, her wisdom, and her deeds to heart, and use her life as a model for yours.

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