Waiting at the Crossroads

Have you ever noticed how often lines of thought converge in your daily life? You may be reading a book at noon, and a conversation you have that evening corresponds with, or emphasizes the very topic you read. Or, you hear a song on the radio, and later watch a show that expands on the same concept. Ideas intersect daily, as if some outside force was placing an exclamation point on a thought that’s bouncing around inside your head. I love when that happens.

I have been studying the War for Independence, and just finished a book about slavery during the revolution. According to this book, the Southern war was a brutal competition between the British who wanted to maintain supremacy (read: economic benefits), the southern colonials who wanted to retain their property (read: slaves who facilitated economic benefits), and the slaves who wanted the freedom to pursue their own economic benefits – and walk down the road without a hall pass.

Then I read this article about a 106 year-old woman (she reminds me of my Great Aunt, Annie Belle Miller) who says, “I ain’t got time to die.” Ann Nixon Cooper is waiting to see Barack Obama elected to the Presidency. Mrs. Cooper remembers when neither women nor African Americans were permitted to vote, let alone run for office. She has taken advantage of early voting in Atlanta, and now waits.

I am reminded that a hundred years is not that far into the long ago. Less than a hundred years ago, women lived at the mercy of their husbands, fathers and brothers. Two hundred years is only a hair longer in the wide swathe of human history. Two hundred years ago, race was used as an excuse to enslave, chain, kidnap, and murder human beings. The lucky ones were merely exploited for economic gain, and told that servitude was their righteous part in God’s plan. Women, African Americans, Native Americans and anyone else who did not fit into the incredibly narrow definition of “citizen” were blatantly excluded from the pursuit of freedom. Rights? Certainly not! Voting? Get back to work!

Years roll by. The times have changed. We have changed. Through pain and love, through war and patience, we have changed.

Haven’t we?

Ann Nixon Cooper waits to see the day.