Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Innocence of Youth

Today was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day...a day to remember one of the most important men in US history. A man that brought national and global attention to the prejudice and injustice faced by African Americans and a man that sought to unite all Americans, regardless of color, through nonviolent means.

For decades, students have learned about MLK and what he meant and continues to mean to this country and those still struggling for equality. No doubt, these are lessons that will continue to be taught for generations to come.

Now that I have a child in school, we are beginning to get a fresh take on MLK and the issues he fought. The following fresh take is courtesy of my favorite 6 year old while I was watching a documentary about 1968:

"Jordy, if we lived during that time and Churro was brown, would we not be allowed to have him? Because in those days, brown people and white people weren't allowed to be together."

Have you picked yourself off the floor yet? It was all I could do to hold myself together following that statement. It's just so amazing to see that she can sum up such a complex issue in such simple terms.

I wish that these were issues that didn't have to be taught, but the fact is that they will be taught until there is some sort of resolution and society can find a way to truly be color blind. In the meantime I'm just so happy to have a little girl that not only gets it as much as a 6 year old can get it, but that she is a blank slate with these sorts of things.

People are people. The only thing that matters to her is whether the people are nice or mean. And even if they're mean, her kind, unbiased little heart never fails to offer up second chances.

I don't know what Mrs. Lightning and I have done, but it feels like we've done it right....with plenty of help from family and friends, of course. But maybe it's time to take a step back and start taking some lessons from the little one. I think we as a society make things more complicated than they need to be.

People are people...let's just be nice to each other. It's really not that hard to do. We can learn a lot from the innocence of youth :)

Sydney rules!

P.S. - Still working on the blog conversion. And by "working on" I mean "haven't started but plan to sometime soon...maybe after the Super Bowl...or before....or................."

Holy Disinterest, Batman!

Wow! This blog thing got off to a pretty good start but has obviously trailed off quite a bit. We're approaching three months since the last post.

So here's the deal. I jumped on Blogspot before I knew any better. I have since started up a Wordpress blog for work stuff and I really like the functionality of those blogs much better than here.

For that reason, I will be moving all my blogs over to a Wordpress page as soon as I can find the time and energy (i.e. take a break from Mario Bros., napping, and football). Once that's up and running, the goal is to blog it up 2010-style! I'm not exactly sure what that means, but let's just say I'm aiming for one blog a week.

Sure, this could lead to some pretty weak posts as I try to meet my self-imposed quota, but hey...I do what I want. After all, in this narcissistic world of social media, who really cares what anyone else thinks......

*likemelikemelikemelookatmelookatmelookatme*

Anyhoo, if there's anyone out there that is still interested in this blog, thanks for hanging in. I will keep you posted on the new developments.

Lightning out!