When path gets ugly, take a turn for the better
At first the slogan on the back of the T-shirt his grandson and classmates wore in their musical farewell to first grade struck Poppa as jarringly strident: “Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around.”
But on second thought, he pondered what a wonderful quality that would be for any kid to embrace, an echo from this country’s civil rights era declaring the wearer, like that Scriptural tree planted by the water, could not be moved, remaining steadfast and unshakable.
Even airline pilots will assure you there’s a point of no return, a point at which their remaining fuel is insufficient to return them to their starting point, making a reversal of direction impossible.
But all rules have exceptions.
These were some of the thoughts consuming this viewer a few nights ago when C-SPAN repeated its airing of a June ceremony at which a stretch of Virginia highway was dedicated to the memory of tennis legend Arthur Ashe.
The speaker was Congressman John Lewis, a personal hero here even though his politics are not this writer’s cup of tea. One of 13 original Freedom Riders who also had his skull fractured by a trooper on the march to Selma, he was well acquainted with police dogs and fire hoses, yet no one ever turned John Lewis around.
If anyone had the right to eschew forgiveness while obstinately staying the course it would be this 79year-old Georgia icon, now in his 17th congressional term.
And yet he has shown he’s not intractable.
Lewis did two things on that C-SPAN telecast that are worth noting in these contentious times, twice leading by the power of example.
First he hugged “my sister from the north,” Ayanna Pressley, even though he’d come here to campaign for her opponent, Mike Capuano.
That gracious hug said so much.
Then he told of a day a stranger “in his 70s” showed up unannounced at his Washington office.
“He said, ‘Mr. Lewis, I was with the Klan. I was one of the ones who beat you. Will you forgive me?’
“I went over to him and we all cried.”
Bitterness or bullheadedness could have prevented that anointed moment.
There’s so much others could learn from Lewis, especially that we don’t have to go to every fight we’re invited to.
Donald Trump, whose most grievous wounds are self-inflicted, needs to understand what Lewis clearly knows. He’s surely too bright to be this boorish.
And ditto for his nastiest critics — Bernie, Liz, Uncle Joe — who’ve yet to realize you can’t throw mud without getting dirty.
They are all in need of an urgent turning around.
And here’s hoping they’ll realize it, the sooner the better.