PERIPETEIA

December 1, 2005. 55 years ago there was a turning point in our country.
A young woman, simply, with dignity, decided she had enough.

Racism reached what Aristotle described as a Peripeteia, or reversal of fortune occurring after a chain of events.

You see, the courage of Rosa Parks in not riding in the back of the bus, was not in her just saying no. Any aspiring leader could face a wrong and take a stand. The courage of Rosa Parks was that she was just a simple person.

Rosa Parks has been called the mother of the civil rights movement. But in a strange way that diminishes her courage. Because Parks courage came when she had no one behind her, and no reason to know that her actions would cause anything other than harm to herself. Parks was not the mother of the civil rights movement on that bus that day. She was just tired after working a long day. What Parks did not know and could not know was that her act of defiance was the fulcrum for the turning point. After her simple act of courage there was a definite and observable change in direction of the civil rights movement in our country.

The Montgomery bus boycott followed, and eloquent men said eloquent things like dreaming of a day when children would be judged by the content of their character not the color of their skin. But that speech was delivered before a hundred thousand people on August 23, 1963. Eight years earlier, frightened, and without a crowd roaring approval, one simple woman decided she had enough, and in the process of overcoming her fear and standing up to evil, she help change a country.

Where do we find our Rosa Parks today? Many are on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. A few brave souls died on September 11, 2001, when they refused to leave their friends and colleagues in a burning building, and 343 firefighters (NY’s Bravest) died because of their commitment to do their job in the face of overwhelming danger.

But I wonder what would happen today if some simple and unknown person was suddenly thrust into the limelight with a heroic act. Would they get a Nike contract and do a Doritos commercial with Bob Dole? Rosa Parks never cashed in on her fame, and that speaks volumes about not just her courage, but her character.

Courage and Character. 55 years ago, one woman had enough to fuel a generation of change.

Some days just cry out for the reverent, not the irreverent.
December 1 is one of those days.
Thanks for reading.