Honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

Today we celebrate a man of courage, wisdom and vision. In his lifetime, Martin Luther King Jr. devoted himself to bringing people together in harmony. He was about giving people wings to soar above inequality and find their inner strength and passion. He was about giving people eyes to see beyond colors of skin and religion and recognize others for inner beauty. He was about giving people legs to stand up for equality for all. King’s indelible words and actions helped transform a nation. It is up to all of us to keep his legacy alive. It is within our power to create positive change in our homes, our neighborhoods, and our world.

 

Please watch this powerful video

Remembering Freedom Riders Helps Us Not Repeat The Past

If you’re familiar with my blog, you know I have devoted it to sharing information and news that is uplifting. My goal is to give you reasons to smile and pass along more good things. But sometimes, in order to pass along good things, we have to be cognizant of the past. We have to have a willingness to stand up for our friends and our neighbors. We have to realize that our world is better, stronger only by opening our minds and hearts to the unique gifts each one of us has to share.

That’s why when Stephanie Creech at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center shared information with me about local students participating in a national Freedom Riders webcast, I knew that the topic was one we need to talk about.

Yes, the topic of racial injustice is very painful – just as is the topic of cultural and religious injustice such as the Holocaust – but only by educating ourselves and raising awareness can we be steadfast in not allowing history to repeat itself.

If you’re unfamiliar, Freedom Riders were a diverse group of more than 400 Americans who from May until November of 1961 rode south together on buses and trains, putting their lives and their freedom on the line. These brave men and women – blacks and whites, Jews and Christians – endured savage attacks and arrests to challenge segregation policies…often while officials did nothing. The Freedom Rides changed the civil rights movement and demonstrated the power of individual action to change the nation.

Freedom Riders: My9TV.com

Remembering

Some 200 students from Middletown and Holmes High Schools were in the Freedom Center’s Harriet Tubman Theater to view the webcast. Afterward panelists, including several of the high school students and veteran Freedom Rider Thomas Armstrong, led an open dialogue. At the end of the program, all of the students, NURFC Director of Advancement Kim Robinson and Thomas joined hands and collectively sang “We Shall Over Come.”

When he was thanked for the role he played for changing American culture, Thomas looked into the eyes of the students and told them humbly, “I wouldn’t want to brag, of course, but I do believe we made a difference.”

For more information about the upcoming PBS documentary on the Freedom Riders, and a cross country Freedom Rider with students retracing the original 1961 rides, please click here.

Meet Electron Boy

Erik Martin is a 14 year old who is always wanting to help others. He also happens to have been born with only half of his heart working due to fetal alcohol syndrome, and now is battling an incurable form of cancer.

Okay, so how does a boy who is fighting a war any teenager should never have to face suddenly become Electron Boy? Have you ever heard of the Make a Wish Foundation? It is a beautiful organization that spreads hope, joy and inspiration to children like Erik with a life threatening medical condition.

When the Make a Wish Foundation reached out to Erik, he told them he wanted to be a superhero for a day. And the group with a knack for making dreams come true got to work. Sure enough Erik – or Electron Boy as his town came to know him – saved the Seattle Sounders from their kidnappers and saved people who were trapped in an elevator of the Space Needle.

For that one day, he was the most powerful person on the planet.  Afterward Jessie Elenbass, wish manager for the Make a Wish Foundation’s Seattle office reminded him that another one of his superhero powers is to make people smile.

And he smiled too.

You can read more about Erik in the Seattle Times article at this link.

A Tribute To American Soldiers On Veteran’s Day

A beautiful tribute on Veteran’s Day to say thanks to all the brave men and women who have given up so much to fight for our freedom.

Meet Jordan Thomas, A CNN Hero

Meet Jordan Thomas, an everyday hero honored by CNN, and testament to the fact that when life changes in a split instant, we are in total power of how it impacts our perspective. At 16, Jordan was spear fishing with his parents when the unforeseen occurred and he was thrown in the path of their boat’s propeller. His legs were sheared off but what happened next is what makes him so inspiring. Instead of loathing in self pity, he noticed around him at the hospital other children whose families didn’t have the resources to provide for them prosthetic limbs. A teenager still himself, Jordan made it his cause to see to it that those children could receive prosthetics until their 18^th birthday and he raised $400,000 to make that happen.

See Jordan’s story here:

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