I started this blog about two weeks ago, then took a bit of a detour to the local medical facility where I remained for a week. Trying to get my thoughts back so I can complete this contribution to the ongoing annals of Flying with the crow.
The reality of death is the finality of it. Whether one’s belief structure includes “life in the hereafter” or not, the reality is that the person is gone and not to return. That is final. What remains are the memories of a life and an awareness of accomplishments, awakenings, and milestones. As I reflect on the past few months, there have been the deaths of three individuals that I would like to highlight. In my judgment, each of them was a giant at a time in the history of the country when there was a critical need for such individuals to come forward. As I have written in the past, the 1950’s and 1960’s were a time of confrontation, conflict, and tumultuous interactions between individuals supporting different agendas. Into this morass of dissent came three individuals from the most varied backgrounds, yet with a common theme to their message—doing what needed to be done to promote humanness, dignity and respect for all people.
In July of this year, Congressman John Lewis of Georgia died from the ravages of pancreatic cancer. Mr. Lewis was born and raised in Troy, Alabama and became involved in the Civil Rights Movement in his early 20’s. He was a close ally with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington in 1963 and was a lead organizer and participant in the march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965. From that experience he was beaten and left with a fractured skull. This latter event was the catalyst for the Voting Rights Bill passed by Congress and signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. Mr. Lewis was arrested on numerous occasions for his peaceful protests to advance the cause of equality for all. From the time he was a young boy preaching to the chickens in the yard, the “boy from Troy”, was destined to leave his mark , not only in the civil rights movement, but throughout his efforts in Congress. Characterized as the “Consciousness of the Congress” by politicians from both sides of the political spectrum, he never lost sight of championing the rights of all humankind. John Lewis will be sorely missed, but there is a legacy that lives forever.
The local paper carried the headline, “Pioneering Justice dies”. This captures the essence of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s contributions as a member of the Supreme Court of the United States. Justice Ginsberg was truly a pioneer, especially in advancing the rights of women in this country. Prior to being named to the court by President Bill Clinton in 1993, she had been recognized as the nation’s preeminent litigator for women’s rights. Being the second woman named to the high court, she became the leader of the liberal bloc against an increasing conservative majority. One of her celebrated rulings led to women being allowed admission to the Virginia Military Institute—she wrote the majority opinion in the 7-1 decision. Her interest in gender equality might well have grown out of her own experiences. She graduated first in her law school class from Columbia, but when she applied for a clerkship with Just ice Fleix Frankfurter, she was denied because she was a woman. The contributions made by the decisions supported by Justice Ginsberg will remain for generations to come, regardless of what might happen with the court’s composition. Her legacy will live on.
Over the years, I have been involved with the Alabama Conference of Social Work and as we approached the 100th year of the organization’s existence, I offered to engage in an analysis of those 100 years. The Conference had it’s beginning in 1916, thus the 100th year was 2016 and those 100 years were filled with an unbelievable amount of history, including world wars, the great depression, a presidential assassination, a presidential resignation, and multiple movements, including the civil rights movement. In my preparations, a friend introduced me to the Rev. Robert Graetz and his wife Jean. They came to Montgomery, Alabama in the mid 1950’s and Rev. Graetz was the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church. The church ministered to a black congregation and one of its members was Rosa Parks who became quite famous as a result of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Rev. Graetz was the only white pastor in Montgomery to support the boycott, and spent his days driving people to work, to shop and to keep appointments. Rev. Graetz was also the only white member of the Montgomery Improvement Association which grew out of the boycott. The boycott lasted for a year and proved to be quite successful in leading to changes in some of the local ordinances that discriminated against black citizens. The KKK bombed the Graetz home on two occasions, put sugar in the gas tank of their car and engaged in other acts of intimidation. Rev. Graetz was described as “a man of peace, a gentle soul, and a fierce proponent of equal justice”. Rev. Graetz died on September 20th following a long illness. It was my distinct pleasure to meet him and his wife and, indeed, his legacy will live on.
Often, individuals seem to be larger in death than in life, but in the case of these three individuals I would argue that their lives were quite large and the contributions they made will live on. Life is but a vapor and each person must decide how that life is to be lived before the vapor subsides.