The success of Martin and Barak lies in the millions beneath them–There’s a saying inserted into some of the cookies at one of the presidential inaugural gala, “Rosa sat so Martin could walk so Barak could run and our children can fly.” It’s difficult not to take that saying to heart, and at the very least to say, “how true.” But underneath the cleverness, the sentiments, and even the facts it reveals, the statement is not as true as it seems on the surface. What moves me at the intersection of Martin Luther King’s Birthday and Barak Obama’s inauguration is how many millions it took for each of them to succeed, for their success indeed rests on the millions beneath them. The civil rights movement rests on the millions throughout the land who walked and marched, and sat and went to jail and endured, Barak’s on the millions who voted and believe in him. To acknowledge the fabric that underlies their walk to success neither gives us undue importance, nor diminishes theirs. It simply reflects that we are all part of a grander picture, all interrelated and that like a stitch in an afghan we are each equally important.
What may be of interest to some is that it is an instance where an inner reality matches an outer one.
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