COURAGE FALLS COURAGE STANDS

"When Your Heart & Your Mind Cowers Not, But Stands Tall."

Clifton L. Taulbert 

I was a soldier in the United States Air Force on April 4, 1968. My day of work at the 89th Presidential Wing on Andrews AFB was over. After eating, I went to my barracks and studied my lesson from the University of Maryland. I must have fallen asleep because I was unaware of the assassination in Memphis . However, early the next morning while headed to the latrine as the bathrooms were called, I was stopped at the door by two of my fellow soldiers who were laughing and pointing at me in glee. “Your leader is dead. Whatcha you gonna do now?” That is when and how I learned that Dr. King had been murdered and his COURAGE laid to rest. I said nothing-not one word. I stood in the door-way and determined that those two guys would never see a tear fall from my eyes. I just walked away. Intuitively I understood that when one falls, someone takes his or her place. Courage Falls. Courage Stands. 

Following your own code of honor. Sidestepping the crowd to do the right thing. Dreaming about tomorrow when today is all you can manage. All of these acts, within our personal and our professional lives, take COURAGE

LOOKING BACK…A CHILDHOOD REQUIRING COURAGE

Throughout the small communities of the South, when I was growing up under the long shadows of legal segregation, courage held a prominent place. Looking back on that world, the actions of ordinary people who surrounded my life were stitching a quilt with threads of strength, love, and faith in tomorrow. A quilt that would keep my heart warm for decades and my dreams safe. Tomorrow for my Porch People was more than a casual turn of the calendar. To my elders, tomorrow was their children. Tomorrow was their future. Tomorrow would be the day when the best of who we could be showed up, leaving the encumbrances of life behind. Nowhere was this so apparent than in the life of Mama Ponk, my great-aunt, who maintained a steady gaze at the future she dreamed for us. She refused to allow the hard work of the fields to dictate the path she would take, nor the seemingly unending acts of racism she suffered from others to turn her around. She never cowered. She stood tall. Her stalwart attitude of COURAGE was bequeathed to me and to my kin, who found life under her roof.

Courage was not just sown in the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta. Seeds of courage were also being sown in Atlanta, in a young boy’s life named Martin, who would become the dreamer of tomorrow. As we think of young Martin Luther King, Jr. over the next few days, his courage stands tall as a reminder of our capacity to do likewise. His voice resonates throughout the auditoriums of our minds. His compelling words and soul-searching speeches still reach deeply within us. His courage still reminds us of our hopes for tomorrow and our dreams for today and the need for COURAGE to stand tall.

Dr. King defined courage as “an inner resolution to go forward despite the obstacles.” This is what he did. This is the legacy left for us as he sought to lead America toward that more perfect Union. It is the legacy left by my great-aunt and so many other ordinary people, who showed me a courage woven of hope, strength, and personal determination. Mama Ponk showed me the patience needed to persevere. For her, life was always hard, and the future never clear. Even so, her courage kept me focused on tomorrow. I became a keeper of the goals we sought. I embraced what we did on a daily basis in anticipation of the possibilities to come.

WE MUST NEVER STOP DREAMING!

My Great Aunt was taller than me. So, she could see farther than I could. As a child, I enjoyed the fruits of her courage without ever quite knowing the price she had paid. As young Martin would grow up and become Dr. King to the world, he was driven by a dream that stirred deeply within his heart and soul—a dream that galvanized the hearts and minds of people in our country and around the world—a dream that would extract from him the ultimate price.

        This transformative courage that we celebrate as we remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. cannot be purchased. It cannot be downloaded. It cannot be planted and harvested in due season. It cannot be ordered online. This courage comes from the community of people surrounding us—from the conversations we hold, the messages of faith we embrace, the books we read, the songs we sing, and the voices we trust. We become repositories of courage—the hope of a people and the endurance of a nation

OUR GOOD ACTIONS MATTER! OTHER DRAW STRENGTH FROM THE COURAGE WE DISPLAY.

We know that COURAGE always involves risk. It took courage for me to enlist in the military in 1964 when the Vietnam War was an invitation to the possibilities of death. I and my fellow soldiers were young, with our futures ahead of us, but we stood up, raised our hands and pledged our allegiance. And for the young Dr. King to leave Atlanta and accept a call to serve in Montgomery would take courage. The South was changing against the will of so many. Dr. King would find himself in the midst of that season of unprecedented social change. It took courage for the young preacher to stand up for equality and justice for all. It cost him his life. We have seen this cost extracted thousands of times throughout history. In the words of Carl Douglass, “Power cedes nothing willingly.”

But courage sown also reaps rewards, not only for those who practice it, but for those who witness it. Adults and youth alike are looking up. People are searching for true leaders in the midst of dark times, as they were in the 1860s and 1960s. What do we want them to see? For those who practice being courageous, courage always confirms your own values. When others observe your courage and do likewise, our neighborhoods are welcoming. Our youth will see what is expected of them. Our workplaces will reflect respect, affirmation, and inclusion for all.

Our courage can become a beacon for others. The world is watching. I bear witness to the courage lived out by Dr. King by practicing it as best I can. "I am still not as tall as my Great Aunt." COURAGE has many faces and speaks a thousand languages, and lives all over the world, but I believe it looks and feels the same to everyone as it did for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., my Great Aunt Elna and for all of those here and abroad who stood tall and are standing tall today.

COURAGE FALLS. COURAGE STANDS.