It was one of those I do not know how to manage days for me... quiet day at the hospital... most patients just wanted a few moments of time with me for prayer and then they needed to rest.And I was puttering through my brain trying to drain up old memories that would help me to answer questions like; who are you, why do you do what you do; do you know the impact you have on other people. Lots of questions. Answers? Hah!
The workday over, I headed out to my car. Windy, cool, rainy... I just wanted to get to the car, go home, and close my eyes for a while. Before I started across the street I looked down and saw that the shoelaces on my right foot had come undone. I was not about to take the time to stop and tie them right there. I headed down the block and, of course, there was a polite young man standing on the grass next to a car to my right and he just had to say, "Excuse me, your shoe is untied." "Thank you," I replied, and kept walking, block done, I walked across a fairly quiet Martin King Way street.And all the time I kept saying, "why can't people mind their own business." The good side of me kept reminding me that the young man was trying to be helpful. The other side kept muttering words which definitely do not have to be repeated here. I got to my car, fumbled around for a few minutes trying to find my carkeys. I really tried to keep my blood from reaching the boiling point. The rain and wet kept me cool on the outside... inside????
When I got home to Bellarmine and got out of my warm, wonderful car, I had enough energy to smile and shake my head. Coaches and the football squad... sunshine, rain, snow... there they were and this old dog had to admit that they brought my whining to a halt... Thanks, guys, ffor helping me to learn a little bit more how to be real...
It was a very foggy early morning trip I was envisioning. The meeting I wanted to attend would be starting at 8:30am. The meeting takes place every Saturday on the Hilltop and, at that meeting, I feel very much at home... men and women are there, all ready to tell stories, the hard ones and the inspiring ones, frightening or sad or hope filled and joyful... I frequently come to those meetings unfocused and weary but I always left renewed... so I was ready to cautiously make my way to the meeting that morning
I decided to try the side roads because whether raining, snowing, or hailing, folks will get on 19th and start barreling downtown or streaking home in the early evening or late night on 19th. So I decided to go to Cedar, turn left, and head on downtown by the side roads. A recreational vehicle came flying off one of the streets to my left and almost hit me. (My language would not have been fit for anyone's ears. In fact I felt my own ears turning blue with a number of words I had learned at the feet of my truck driving stepfather). But I managed to get to the meeting safely.
The meeting was wonderful... focusing on the needs of our children... quality education, safe streets, productive and fulfilling jobs, futures full of promise. At times I felt sad; other times I clapped my hands merrily; frequently I nodded when I was presented with an idea that was insightful and stimulating. And after that meeting I went to the Family Y and had an hour discussion with a close friend about prayer and service and God. By then the sun was shining.
I let myself enjoy the warm afternoon sunshine, knowing that I had had the opportunity to meet some absolutely wonderful people, that I was feeling refreshed and renewed, and that it was time for me to get back to enjoying being alive, learning with other people, and working with them to make our world a good world for all.
I had a wonderful morning and early afternoon experience... a mountain top experience---frightening, challenging, exhilirating, just plain sweet-beautiful--As I thought about writing this post, I heard Martin King speaking within me... he spoke of serving and living and dying... he spoke of the vision he had had... where he had been to the Mountain Top... and how all he really wanted to do with the rest of his life was to love God by serving others... I wish each one of you wonderful friends, stimulating conversations, the over riding desire to support others in leading healthy, safe, and emotionally-spiritually fruitful lives... Any Mountain Top Experiences you would like to share... Hopes and Dreams for all of us
Warm late summer afternoon. I am sitting in People’s Park. Across from me a man andwoman are sitting talking.
Cars pass by. You can tell this park is located in a very alive neighborhood. Folks in cars greet each other with a sweet, saucy beep of their horns.
Behind me I can hear a child’s voice. A child and woman are coming by. They are right behind me. Good. The child is having a chance to try out the slide. I remember those slides when I was a little boy in Houston. Up the ladder, sitting carefully down, and then letting go, laughing and being scared at the same time. Too cool!
The wind is blowing on my neck and dancing merrily with the trees in front of me. Thank goodness for that breeze because when it stops the hot sun burns away at the back of my neck.
The street in front of me is very busy, the street to my right even busier. I am amazed at the number of trucks I see on these streets.
My step dad had a pickup truck which he used to do work around the neighborhood after he retired. His weak heart finally led him to let go of those jobs. But he drove that truck, Monday through Saturday. On Sunday he drove Mom around in their big, beautiful Buick.
Great driver, faithful husband--- I liked him.
The lady who was sitting at that table… just came back out of the building and she smiles beautifully. She shouts at the fellow she had been talking to at the table. He was about a half a block away from her. He is wearing earphones. He must not have been listening to music; he heard her, came back, and they continued their walk.
Now two young women with a baby stroller have come to the park. One of them has placed a little baby in a swing. That toddler cannot be older than eight to ten months. I love the wonderful way she smiles at the baby. The baby is a quiet, sweet little boy. The other woman is sitting on a park bench with the baby carriage. She is watching patiently. Now the woman is taking the little boy to the slide. She is going to slide down with him. Thank the Lord for loving women. Her friend is still sitting with the baby carriage. Quiet, patient woman, she is for sure.
Where is that breeze? Late summer and that sun is cooking me.
10:30 Friday morning. I thought I had left my lunch in my car. After visiting a patient I headed for the parking lot. I was to find out this evening that I had left my lunch at home. But at that moment, with the rain lightly coming down and a chill in the air, I headed for my car. Here's a view of the street (S 18th) looking downtown that I crossed to get to the parking lot.
In the parking lot, gathering up rubbish, was a friend of mine. Something inside of me said, "see if he wouldn't mind my taking a picture of him. I knew that, if he chose, I would get a chance to let you enjoy seeing a very warm, generous human being. Even the rain would not keep him from smiling and spending a little time with another human being.
Somehow we got into this wonderful story where he talked about being a Q-KID... his generous community service was highlighted on Channel 13 for a month. Here is what he said.
Thanks, buddy, for bringing some much needed sunshine into my (our) life on a rainy day.
Friends... how about sharing some folks who bring sunshine into your life.
Here are a few lessons I gleaned from my day at work on Tuesday. 1. If I take my time and move quietly and calmly I can get through places where I cannot see a few feet in front of me.
The driving rain kept me on edge, that's for sure!
2. When I choose to think, speak, and act with love for myself and others, I discover that we live in a beautiful, beautiful world...
Check out our skyline!
3. At the end of the day people all over the world try very hard to quietly and calmly get back home to where they feel known, understood, and loved.
Here's Hilltop, Tacoma, 19th and J, four forty five in the afternoon----
WHY? Back in 1968-1969 times were scary on the Hilltop and that's when I got my first lessons in being frequently under attack... because I was black. I kid you not. I who knew nothing (that's .0000000 to infinity)about civil rights/open housing/interracial dating/guns and drugs and corruption... found myself way, way over my head.
I remember one time coming to a meeting of the Human Rights Commission and watching one of the folks from a local station that loved to label folks Commies and revolutionaries who needed to either start loving their country or going back where they came from was putting various bits of broadcasting paraphenalia away. As he bent over, his suit coat raised up just high enough for me to focus in on a big, black pistol he had in his back pocket.
Believe me, by the time I got ready to move on for future studies, I had gotten labeled "troublemaker," "Commie," (to this very hour I really don't get what Karl Marx was trying to say... more than that, I never read more than three pages of anything he wrote, so I am not about to get in a big critique of Marxism, Sputnik, Kruscheov, "tear these walls down," or Putin ) by that radio station.
And the principal of Bellarmine at that time, my friend, Justin Seipp, let me listen to a blistering afternoon phone call as some man I did not know went on and on about how I should not be permitted to teach one more class and should be fired immediately... So, here in Tacoma, because of my love for the people of Hilltop, I got my first lesson in the old proverb, "if you're black, get back."
Tuesday I decided to take a late morning walk on the Top and this is what I saw: The creativity of this wonderful garden, the various items there just held my attention
And I wondered about the laughter and sadness, the dreams crushed and the hopes fullfilled that had been experienced by the people who took time to welcome others into their world with this garden.
The power of the faithful who, day after day, came to this church, to give praise to God together.
One of the great sadnesses of so many urban churches are the number of funerals of young people who have been cruelly killed take place each year. I caught myself recalling moments of wonder and awe and sorrow I had experienced in different churches over the years. I am so thankful for the sincere hard working women and men who keep keeping on.
I recalled the welcoming smiles and the wonderful dishes I had seen the last time I came to this vegetarian restaurant.
I found myself hoping that the restaurant was daily crowded to overflowing by hungry people. Restaurant business is one tough work and the only way one succeeds in it is by cheerfully and consistently supporting people in feeling accepted and respected.
Any of you know Mr. Tom Dixon? He and Justin Seipp are two of the people who got me through 68-69. Justin kept inviting me to come and spend time with his friends... cool, cool, determined people who wanted to make Tacoma a loving place for everyone.
Tom freed me up when he was director of the Urban League-- gave me a notebook and a pin and told me to go knock on doors and ask people what they needed
Thank you Justin; thank you Tom...
Then I decided to just stand on the corner of one of the busy streets there and let things happen. It was a bright, chilly morning... I was shivering and smiling and laughing and crying and thanking God for all the people who helped me to grow during my first hard years walking the streets of Hilltop...
I shall come here again and again. This is a good place for me and so many other people to just be ourselves. I hope you find some time to wander the Hilltop. Lots of good people here, who would welcome you to their churches, their shops, and hopefully, into their lives..
Ah... Martin King and 15th on a chilly spring day... JUST ABSOLUTELY LOVELY
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Joseph McGowan …is a chaplain who supports patients, families, friends, nurses and doctors at St. Joseph’s Hospital. Being 67, he’s learned this about living: Meet people on their own ground and you will discover that this Earth is our special place to meet and support each other. His motto: Live now. Share yourself now. Every living thing you experience is a pure gift. Love all life unconditionally. Contact him at mcg9940@yahoo.com.
Mizu Sugimura …is a third-generation Japanese American living in Federal Way. She’s married and a parent of one adult child. A lifelong resident of the Puget Sound area, she graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of Washington School of Communications. and served on Federal Way’s Diversity and Art Commissions. Her interests are politics, art, the history of minorities in Washington and family history. She’s written a self-published family history about her paternal grandfather. Contact her at mizusugi@yahoo.com.
Kim Thompson …is a Grit City native who was born and raised in Tacoma’s Old Town neighborhood by the gulch. She boasts that she’s a former Lowell Leopard, Mason Mustang and Wilson Ram, a short-time PLU Lute and a longtime UW Husky. This former corporate businesswoman is a wife, a mom, a school volunteer, a substitute teaching assistant, a writer and a born-again distance runner. She has convinced friends from Bellevue that Tacoma is worth the drive. Contact her at kimricksy@comcast.net.
ugi@yahoo.com.
And I was puttering through my brain trying to drain up old memories that would help me to answer questions like; who are you, why do you do what you do; do you know the impact you have on other people. Lots of questions. Answers? Hah!
And all the time I kept saying, "why can't people mind their own business." The good side of me kept reminding me that the young man was trying to be helpful. The other side kept muttering words which definitely do not have to be repeated here. 
for helping me to learn a little bit more how to be real...
