I resolved with John Lewis’s death to learn more about the good people who are making a difference in our world in their own voice and words instead of through an obituary or a televised funeral.  I am old enough to have felt the winds of the civil rights movement even though I was too young to add so much as a breath to it.  I knew in a vague way who Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were.  This came from eaves dropping on the adults in my orbit, snippets on the evening news no longer than a Youtube© ad today and, occasionally, a front page article.  I ask
myself, why the impact of such momentous events as the 1963 March on Washington and passage of the Civil rights Act of 1964 were not felt more keenly at the time.  Some of the few adults in my world who understood their significance were ambivalent about the impact.  They believed that such talk about equality of the races would generate a backlash that would make things worse.  But not John Lewis and he was right.

John Lewis did his part and then some.  At an age when young men today typically spend their  leisure time playing video games, John Lewis was sitting in at a lunch counter in Nashville and organizing boycots to  protest segregation.  Beaten to within an inch of his life to protect our right to vote stands in contrast to the many today who won’t risk a sweat to go to the polls.  He was jailed many times for nonviolent protest and was suffered many indignities.  I would not have had the courage or the conviction.  Neither would you.  Read about John Lewis’ life here, here and here.    Listen to the Obama, Bush and Clinton eulogies honoring the contributions and sacrifices Mr. Lewis made to make  America a better country.

What better way to pay homage to such a honorable and courageous patriot than to vote for America not Trump on November 3.