Monday, January 19, 2009

MLK legacy

I just left my daughter's room. She stayed awake longer than she was allowed to, reading a Nancy Drew book my mom got her yesterday.

She wanted another glass of water.

I went to the kitchen, returned with the water, and tried to leave.

She wanted to say prayers together.

I returned to her bedside, dutifully clasped my hands together and bowed my head.

This is what she prayed:

"Dear God, today was Martin Luther King [slight pause] Junior [slight pause] 's birthday. Please tell him that I hope he had a great birthday today. He did so many good things for so many people, and he wanted to help people, and he wanted people to do the right thing and be nice to each other like they're supposed to. I just think he was really nice and please tell him that I hope his birthday was great. Amen."

On the eve of the historic inauguration of our first African American President of the United States of America, I just want it to be known that little white girls in middle America, without any prodding or compulsion by politcally correct adults, are spontaneously wishing Dr. King a joyous birthday celebration in their nightime prayers. How awesome is that.

4 comments:

CP said...

that's really sweet- and amazing! and i love nancy drew!

gudnuff said...

She meant every word. She was emphatic, especially with the word "great". She said it with all her heart. I had tears in my eyes when I walked out of there.

Anonymous said...

oh, that's SO sweet! and I love(d) Nancy Drew too!

gudnuff said...

This was especially touching because as far as I'm aware, she was not exposed to any media or to any events that even mentioned that it was Martin Luther King day that day. We did nothing as a family to commemorate the day, which makes her efforts to do so all the more meaningful. I don't think we even watched the news that evening. She did this all on her own.