She hopes the ferry won’t come, but if it does, she’ll climb aboard. She’ll tremble as she steps off the landing, because she can’t swim, and she can’t forget the many times she’s crossed this ugly river only to meet more ugliness on the other side.
But fear has never beaten Mary Lee Bendolph, and no river can stop her. She’ll board that ferry, if it comes, because something tells her she must, and because all the people she loves most will board with her, and because if there’s one thing she’s learned in her difficult life, it’s this:
When the time comes to cross your river, you don’t ask questions. You cross.
From Crossing Over by JR Moehringer
I wonder what Mary Lee Bendolph would say today.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
I would love to know what Ralph Wiley would have said tonight.
But whatever the words, I have no doubt there'd be a smile on his face.
talking to my parents, they were reminisicing about the 60s and the Civil Rights marches...they are both stunned and overwhelmed by the emotion of it..what an amazing day in US history...
I'm hopeful for this country again ....
[4] Amen
I'm flush with emotions, all of them intensely positive. I'm also in disbelief . . . the good kind.
My wife and I were near tears during Obama's speech.
[6] i don't know much at all about politics, but i voted today and am very glad i did. obama's speech was incredibly impressive!
in other news, look for an email from me soon. i'll put "bronx banter - thelarmis" in the subject title, so you know it's me...
I just hope he can stay safe...even on a celebratory night I couldn't shake more cynical thoughts of the evil that lurks out there...
I was thinking, as I booted my laptop, "Wonder what Belth will have up front this morning?" My guess was a clip of Sam Cooke, "(It's been a long time comin' but) A Change is Gonna Come".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUT1WgHat6I
I like the Moehringer.