MartinLuther King, Jr, 1929-1968

How many people reading this post can say that their lives overlapped Dr. King's? I can't. I was born in 1970. Now, I did grow up knowing about the things of the 60's, such as Dr. King and JFK and the moon landing and, most especially, the Vietnam War, where my daddy was an Army officer and got several medals--all before I was born. The 70's reeled with the aftermath of the 60's.

But that is ancient history for our children. Is Dr. King any more relevant, any more immediate, to them than FDR or Truman were to my generation? Good people, important people, but having nothing to do with now?

Probably. But it doesn't follow that history has to be irrelevant. For the most part, our children can't even imagine a world with the kids of racial separation that Dr. King's world suffered through. I mean, separate water fountains? How absurd is that? We live in a small midwestern town and my kids go to school with African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and white kids from both the US and elsewhere. And there are only 4000 people in our whole town. This is normal for most kids, and that's a good thing.

If you want to try to convey to your kids why this day matters, why this man matters, I suggest that you start by watching the entire "I Have A Dream" speech. There's more to it than we usually quote, and it's stunningly brilliant.

Here are some things I want my kids to know about Dr. King:

--He was intellectually brilliant. I've read many of his writings, and the man has an amazing grip of history, sociology, anthropology, economics, and of course, Scripture. That "Dr." in his name is a PhD from Boston College.

--He did what he did because of his faith. My family happens to share the same faith with Dr. King, and he is certainly an example to us, but I think we can all agree that a person who stands up for what he deeply believes is to be admired. In a similar vein, I would emphasize tyo my own children that Dr. King's job was a minister. He was not a politician. He was a pastor.

--It wasn't easy for him to stand up to the law, to the culture, and even to the people he hoped to help. Not everybody agreed with the things he said or the things he did. Some people even made death threats against him and his family. But sometimes we have to choose between what is right and what is easy.

--He might not be such an American hero if he had lived. This may be too much for younger kids to understand, but older ones will get the concept. His next area of what he perceived to be injustice was American participation in the Vietnam War. That was a whole different battlefield from Civil Rights. Not more or less important, just a different set of themes, values, ideals, and participants. I have mixed feelings about this era in history, but I do know a lot about what Communist governments do to their people, and I'm not sure I would have gone with Dr. King on this one.

--His birthday is January 15, not the 3rd Monday in January.

If you're looking for things to do with your kids to commemorate this day, Kaboose, a crafts and activities site, has a lot of fun stuff. And remember, we can't stop working toward the dream that Dr. King so ably articualted. We have to work for it, fight for it, in our own way, in our own day, right down to the youngest of us.

Prayers for Inauguration Day

Come Tuesday, we will have a new president. I didn't vote for him, but I will respect his office. I sincerely hope that he does such a great job that I'll feel compelled to vote for him in four years. As always, our nation's leaders need our prayers--and that's never more true than when we disagree with them. And our country, as well, needs our prayers for this time of transition. New beginnings are a gift, and I hope we can receive them that way.

Here are some prayers from the Book of Common Prayer that we might say this week.

For the Nation

Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the
earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace:
Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the
strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in
accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

For Peace

Almighty God, kindle, we pray, in every heart the true love of
peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel
for the nations of the earth, that in tranquillity your dominion
may increase until the earth is filled with the knowledge of your
love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

For Social Justice

Almighty God, who created us in your image: Grant us
grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace
with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom,
help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our
communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy
Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

For Peace Among the Nations

Almighty God our heavenly Father, guide the nations of the
world into the way of justice and truth, and establish among
them that peace which is the fruit of righteousness, that they
may become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen.

For Congress or a State Legislature

O God, the fountain of wisdom, whose will is good and
gracious, and whose law is truth: We beseech thee so to guide
and bless our Senators and Representatives in Congress
assembled (or in the Legislature of this State, or Common-
wealth), that they may enact such laws as shall please thee,
to the glory of thy Name and the welfare of this people;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For Courts of Justice

Almighty God, who sittest in the throne judging right: We
humbly beseech thee to bless the courts of justice and the
magistrates in all this land; and give unto them the spirit of
wisdom and understanding, that they may discern the truth,
and impartially administer the law in the fear of thee alone;
through him who shall come to be our Judge, thy Son our
Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

For Local Government

Almighty God our heavenly Father, send down upon those
who hold office in this State (Commonwealth, City, County,
Town, ____________) the spirit of wisdom, charity, and justice;
that with steadfast purpose they may faithfully serve in their
offices to promote the well-being of all people; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.

For those in the Armed Forces of our Country

Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and
keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at home
and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly
grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give
them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant
them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In Times of Conflict

O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us,
in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront
one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work
together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.

For those who Influence Public Opinion

Almighty God, you proclaim your truth in every age by many
voices: Direct, in our time, we pray, those who speak where
many listen and write what many read; that they may do their
part in making the heart of this people wise, its mind sound, and
its will righteous; to the honor of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


And finally, here's a litany we can pray.

For Sound Government

O Lord our Governor, bless the leaders of our land, that we
may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to
other nations of the earth.
Lord, keep this nation under your care.

To the President and members of the Cabinet, to Governors
of States, Mayors of Cities, and to all in administrative
authority, grant wisdom and grace in the exercise of their
duties.
Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

To Senators and Representatives, and those who make our
laws in States, Cities, and Towns, give courage, wisdom, and
foresight to provide for the needs of all our people, and to
fulfill our obligations in the community of nations.
Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

To the Judges and officers of our Courts give understanding
and integrity, that human rights may be safeguarded and
justice served.
Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

And finally, teach our people to rely on your strength and to
accept their responsibilities to their fellow citizens, that they
may elect trustworthy leaders and make wise decisions for
the well-being of our society; that we may serve you
faithfully in our generation and honor your holy Name.
For yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as
head above all. Amen.

Nothing at All

Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without a ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner. All is well.

from the book September.

Plagiarism

Some of you have heard me talk about plagiarism before. Few things anger or distress me as much as a student who doesn't put the work into her speech or paper. One of the colleges where I teach doesn't have a firm policy about plagiarism, they leave it up to the instructor, so my policy has become that anyone caught plagiarizing gets a 0 for the assignment, period.

In my Speech class, I always spend part of a lecture, early in the semester, discussing exactly what plagiarism is and warning them against it. I give them handouts. I tell them, "I always know." And I do. This isn't because I'm brilliant, it's because they're stupid. If I can google some part of your speech and it comes up, then you've plagiarized it. Duh. I have access to more sophisticated programs, such as turnitin.com, articlechecker.com, and copyscape, but I don't need them. The Google and Yahoo serach engines work just fine.

We Speech teachers got a memo from the head of our department, in which she said that plagiarism was more of a problem this last semester than she had ever seen. She says that some students seem really not to know that cutting and pasting a paragraph here, a paragraph there, and then presenting it as your speech, is actually plagiarism.

My first instinct is to ask, "How do you get to college and not know that's plagiarism?" But, believe me, you'd be shocked at what students get to college not knowing. At least in my class, I KNOW I've told them exactly what plagiarism is--something I don't have to do--so they have no excuses.

This past semester I failed two students for plagiarizing on their final speeches. They're never even smart about it, either. One student copied wholesale a speech from a site called something like InformativeSpeeches.Com, and the other, who did a speech on cancer, copied hers entirely from Cancer.net--though she did cut and paste different paragraphs from different pages on the site. And it's very common for them to copy things directly from Wikipedia.

So, here's some advice for you if you ever have to take a Speech class. If you can't pronounce the words you use in your speech, your teacher will know you didn't come up with them. If you seem bored by your own topic, the teacher will know you didn't come up with your information. If you can't communicate coherently in daily conversation, but your speech suddenly sounds like a Nobel Prize winner wrote it, the teacher will know it's because a Nobel Prize winner wrote it, not you.

Teachers aren't stupid. And plagiarism is more than just lazy; it's dishonest and dishonorable. So...classes start in 12 days, and I guess I'll just have to continue to wage my own personal war against it. I kind of feel bad for my new students, because it always ends up that each new class pays for the sins of the one that came before.

New Year's Resolutions

I've wanted to write about my New Year's resolutions since, well, the new year, but to tell the truth, they aren't all that clearly defined in my head. A few things that we've begun well and now just have to continue well are:

+ eating well (convenient but healthy snacks, especially for the kids)

+ exercising (even if it's cold and even in the afternoon)

+ writing every day on my book (even if it's just a few words on any given day)

+ to make one of the major repairs on our house (windows? carpet? downstairs bathroom?)

These are pretty important ones. Matt and I both have diabetes in our families, and while we have very healthy meals (thanks to Matt), we've allowed too many sugary snacks. Strangely, I have been a sugar-nazi about breakfast cereals (nothing over 12 grams of sugar), but then let them snack on store-bought cookies. Also, I really hate exercising, but it has to be done. I think we're supposed to be walking the puppies, but we haven't been doing a great job of that...so this one benefits everyone.

And, of course, I have a tendency to start a story, then drop it under the stress of everything else I have to do with my lfe. I don't want to do that anymore, so I am determined to write every day, even if it's a tiny bit. I went strong on this for 6 days, then last night got side-tracked by a mountain of laundry...but I think the trick is to keep going, so that's what I plan to do.

Other things I want from 2009 are more like dreams or wishes than resolutions, because I don't have any plans for how to get them. I want:

+ to lose 40 pounds (this really shouldn't be a wish, but I don't have a plan in place for how to do it yet)

+ to replace the income from one of my jobs with income from writing (I have some possibilities on the horizon, but again, nothing that is well-thought-through enough to be called a resolution)

So, there you are. Nothing huge, just progressing with life in the right direction, geting stuff done that needs to be done. Anyone else want to share their resolutions?