“…realize that there is only one ‘race,’ – the human race, and we are all members of it.” ~ Margaret Atwood

There have been so many monumental national and worldwide historical events that have occurred throughout my lifetime – man walking on the moon, the Equal Rights Amendment, Watergate, the tearing down of the China Wall, space shuttle Challenger exploding, The Persian War, the collapse of the Twin Towers, just to name a few. But, none of these events have been etched as deeply into my psyche as the Baltimore riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King.

Indeed, “the sixties” was a time of revolution including trends in clothing, music, education and social order in general. Drug experimentation and rebellions on college campuses was indicative of the turbulent times.

I remember when I was eleven I thought that the arrival of the Beatles in the United States was newsworthy of unmatched historical proportions. But by the time I turned fifteen, I had matured in my thinking and I grasped the fact that upheavals in the political and racial climate were were hugely more consequential in nature. A national shift in culture far greater than the Beatles. I was well-tuned into the events around the death of Martin Luther King and tried hard as a teenager to understand the radical changes that our country was undergoing.

In one chapter of my memoir I recall the feelings I had one morning as I sat at the kitchen table reading the headlines and the reports in the Baltimore Sun Newspaper. I felt as if I was sitting amid a battlefield I had so many scary, anxious thoughts running through my mind.

Thank God my thoughts running rampant were very different than reality for me. But for so many people residing within the boundaries of the inner city of Baltimore my thoughts were a reality of their living conditions.

I have some fun things planned for next week  All Things Fulfilling on Monday. We will be celebrating twin week. Have a good weekend!