Coretta Scott King is gone

Maybe I was just tired, or maybe the sentimental overtone of the special edition CBS news last night covering CSK's funeral did it, but even though I didn't really know much about what she did and stuff, I am kind of sad. I think it is this whole change thing.

CSK's death marks the end of an era. An era of constant, physically dangerous fighting for rights and equality. While, there is still much fighting for equality around the world today, her death marks the end of the era of marching and beating and sitting down in buses to make statements. Not that people don't fight for equality these days, but that it is different.

When I started thinking about it I realized that living where I live now would be not allowed or looked down upon if it wasn't for the pioneers of that time. I would be restricted to which school I could go to, where I could live, who I could marry, where I could work, etc. And suddenly, the silliness that many associate to the civil rights movements (I like to think of it in plural because making it singular makes it sound like a one shot easy feat) is gone.

And then I started thinking... I disagree with a lot of rights being fought for today, some sound like abuse of power (not political power but emotional power, like when a kid who has been punished unjustly asks to eat chocolate because he knows mom or dad are feeling pretty bad right about now). How will my kids feel though? Is my disagreement a sort of forgoing of liberties and rights that I deserve and do not realize because I am too lazy to question the social ways of today? Will my kids look back on some of the figths won by the "fighters" of today and be thankful for them? Or will my kids look back and wish I had done something about my disagreement? Is the world truly getting worse? Are the rights sought truly not rights but priviledges? Or is the world and the fights of today simply an intact time translated snapshot of the world and the fights of yesterday?

This all probably doesn't make sense. I am very much thinking in Spanish today, things I feel passionate about usually do that. The point being that I am very grateful for those who fought so that I could go to any bathroon that was open when I have needed one. I am very grateful for those who fought so that I could vote and have a say in how my life and the world around me should work. I am grateful that we do not have to march today for these freedoms, but have different forums to obtain what we want or need. But I do have one wish for those who are fighters today: seek the wisdom of God in choosing your battles so that you choose battles which are just and honorable to God and remember that not everything that is allowed is good or righteous. Let us avoid the temptation to fight for things that are not good just because they should be allowed or they should be our right, that road leads to dangerous places and strangely enough, to many prohibitions.