Mother Is The Word For God
Title: Mother is the word for God
Genre: Non Fiction
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Dear Barack Obama,
Do not break my mother's heart. I know where you live.
Love,
Kat
Faith in Our Fathers:
Mary was born November 4, 1948 in Eerie, Pennsylvania but because of her health, her family moved to Florida in '52. That's where she grew up. That's where she learned her faith.
Her first memory of racism is from when her school became "integrated" - a word they had to learn even though they'd never been taught "segregation". But the new girl was really nice and shared her dolls. Mary wanted to invite her to her birthday party. Daddy asked, "Why would the n----- come here?"
He almost immediately cursed himself and told her she could invite anyone she wanted. His own parents had believed funny things, he said. She shouldn't listen to him.
Faith in Our Nation:
Her first memory of what it was to be an American is from when Alaska became a state. She was 10. She remembers the thrill. The idea that we were united. Whole.
She doesn't remember when she first knew that someday there would be another war, and that nuclear bombs would be dropped. It just was always there. She does remember when she first realized that it meant she would die. It was October, 1962.
She was about to turn 12, and they were watching the nightly news with their parents for civics class. She watched the President sit there on television and talk about global warfare. The next morning, her bus was late for school. It had to pull over to the side of the road for twenty minutes while a military convoy passed. And on the back of the trucks were the warheads she'd heard the president talk about. When they got to school, they had a drill.
What To Do When the Sirens Sound.
Not if. When.
And she remembers them all knowing it would do no good.
The world did not end. The President, who said he would keep her safe, did. She turned 12.
Eighteen days after she turned 13, someone killed the President. She was in school and every adult in her world looked scared and sad.
Faith in Ourselves:
She got mad. She started paying attention. And the Civil Rights movement exploded.
She discovered the Beatles and music, love and hope and freedom. She watched Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy pick up the banner and preach peace to a troubled world.
She graduated high school in 1966. Of the boys she knew in her class, none stayed home. Some went to college, others went to Canada, and most went to Vietnam. In ten years time, most would be dead.
Loss of Faith:
In 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. She watched Robert F. Kennedy die before her eyes on television. She watched the old guard establishment kill her generation and call them ungrateful hippies. She graduated from nursing school, got married and watched men go around the moon.
And she knew that, while she'd always believe in the good in people, she'd never give the government control over her heart and mind again.
Faith in The Future:
On November 4, 2008, Mary turned 60 and watched an African American man overwhelmingly win the presidency of the United States of America.
Her eyes teared up and she told her daughter all the things she'd seen.
"Maybe it wasn't in vain," she said.
"Happy Birthday, Mommy," her daughter said.
And Mary went to bed thinking she might believe in the government again.
Fin.
Genre: Non Fiction
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Dear Barack Obama,
Do not break my mother's heart. I know where you live.
Love,
Kat
Faith in Our Fathers:
Mary was born November 4, 1948 in Eerie, Pennsylvania but because of her health, her family moved to Florida in '52. That's where she grew up. That's where she learned her faith.
Her first memory of racism is from when her school became "integrated" - a word they had to learn even though they'd never been taught "segregation". But the new girl was really nice and shared her dolls. Mary wanted to invite her to her birthday party. Daddy asked, "Why would the n----- come here?"
He almost immediately cursed himself and told her she could invite anyone she wanted. His own parents had believed funny things, he said. She shouldn't listen to him.
Faith in Our Nation:
Her first memory of what it was to be an American is from when Alaska became a state. She was 10. She remembers the thrill. The idea that we were united. Whole.
She doesn't remember when she first knew that someday there would be another war, and that nuclear bombs would be dropped. It just was always there. She does remember when she first realized that it meant she would die. It was October, 1962.
She was about to turn 12, and they were watching the nightly news with their parents for civics class. She watched the President sit there on television and talk about global warfare. The next morning, her bus was late for school. It had to pull over to the side of the road for twenty minutes while a military convoy passed. And on the back of the trucks were the warheads she'd heard the president talk about. When they got to school, they had a drill.
What To Do When the Sirens Sound.
Not if. When.
And she remembers them all knowing it would do no good.
The world did not end. The President, who said he would keep her safe, did. She turned 12.
Eighteen days after she turned 13, someone killed the President. She was in school and every adult in her world looked scared and sad.
Faith in Ourselves:
She got mad. She started paying attention. And the Civil Rights movement exploded.
She discovered the Beatles and music, love and hope and freedom. She watched Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy pick up the banner and preach peace to a troubled world.
She graduated high school in 1966. Of the boys she knew in her class, none stayed home. Some went to college, others went to Canada, and most went to Vietnam. In ten years time, most would be dead.
Loss of Faith:
In 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. She watched Robert F. Kennedy die before her eyes on television. She watched the old guard establishment kill her generation and call them ungrateful hippies. She graduated from nursing school, got married and watched men go around the moon.
And she knew that, while she'd always believe in the good in people, she'd never give the government control over her heart and mind again.
Faith in The Future:
On November 4, 2008, Mary turned 60 and watched an African American man overwhelmingly win the presidency of the United States of America.
Her eyes teared up and she told her daughter all the things she'd seen.
"Maybe it wasn't in vain," she said.
"Happy Birthday, Mommy," her daughter said.
And Mary went to bed thinking she might believe in the government again.
Fin.