It is not often that the entirety of EMS comes together. Sure, we do pep rallies and performances here and there, but how often do you see seniors holding the hands of second graders and fourth graders laughing at the same things as freshmen? This is what History Day is all about.
My little family of K-12 students spent the day traipsing around school to stations centered on the polka-dot colored culture of the 50’s and 60’s. Most of my adopted high school children were quiet and complaisant, but our two Pre-K girls, after drinking malts for snack and getting lollipops for shooting homemade rockets to the “moon,” made up for our quietness with exuberance. They carried our Vietnam protest signs through the school with pride and weren’t worried about running out of smiles to give.
After a morning of family time during which I gained a few new friends, we came back together as a school to walk to JMU on Martin Luther King Jr. Way. I wasn’t on board with the idea at first until we were told its significance. “Marching gives us access” said speaker, Arthur Dean. The sacrifice of those before us gives us access to the things that make our lives worthwhile; this applies both to civil rights and to our faith history.
On the way to the walk there was a MLK quote on the side of a church. “I have decided to stick with love.” This reminded me of the verse, “They will know we are Christians because of our love.” As the school looks back on the pacifist response to the Civil Rights Movement, we must all remember not only the people who walked before us, but the people we walk with now and the people who will walk after us.
