Good
Trouble
“You
are a light. You are the light. Never let anyone—any person or any force—dampen,
dim, or diminish your light. Study the path of others to make your way easier
and more abundant. Lean toward the whispers of your own heart, discover the
universal truth, and follow its dictates. Release the need to hate, to harbor
division, and the enticements of revenge. Release all bitterness. Hold only
love, only peace in your heart, knowing the battle of good to overcome evil is
already won.”
John
Lewis
John
Lewis has been gone a year now, but his influence lives on. Like Martin
Luther King, Jr. his message to the young was always to follow the path of
non-violence. He called it “getting in good trouble” to peacefully demonstrate
in a manner that could not be ignored. By blocking traffic and creating an obstruction
for shoppers, attention could be gotten better than staging a silent
protest in a park. In the 1960’s, Lewis was founder and head of Student
Non-violent Coordinating Committee, and one of the people who planned and
executed the march on the Pettis bridge in Selma. He first ran for political
office in 1981 and was the Congressional Representative for the 5th
district of Atlanta from 1987 until his death. Lewis, who had many titles—"the
conscience of Black America”, “the conscience of Congress”— was from Troy, AL,
and was also known as “the Boy from Troy.” He was kind and forgiving to the
very end of his life—the epitome of what being a Christian means. I miss his
presence, his voice, and what he stood for in an ever more contrary House of
Representatives.
I have
hope that other leaders will step up and take up the mantel of leadership Lewis left.
There will never be another John Lewis, but perhaps there will be others like
him—true statesmen and natural born leaders who are ready to live and die for their
country and all its people. Leaders who will "listen to the whispers of their own hearts." America needs non-violent good trouble.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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