Walking With Friends in the Rain

I like walking. And I like rain. I even like walking in rain sometimes. I mention these details as I wonder what good it does to walk around this beautiful city on a rainy morning in honor of one of our heroes, Dr. Martin Luther King.

I had the good fortune to be walking with my friends, Jake and Gwynnie Samson. Gwynnie and I made a point of splashing in most of the puddles we found. We walked on the edge of a river of people, a good number of umbrellas, long horizontal signs. I saw a number of white people I had waited on at the Co-op. A black man's voice came across a bull horn, singing protest songs that I only knew the first line of. I couldn't help but wonder what we were all doing together on Vine St., on Rose, on Main. Jake observed how great it is to walk down the middle of the street, even through the red lights. That is pretty cool.

I kept thinking about a man who mobilized a people and used marching as a tool, a weapon of love. This man changed the world without a gun. He followed Gandhi's lead. He knew that the means would justify the ends. His voice is painfully lacking on this January day as our country argues about our war.

On our way back toward Jefferson St., Gwynnie said, "I'm glad we're doing this today." I couldn't help myself; I asked, "Really; why?" She answered, "I don't know. I just am." I think I can let that suffice for me too.