The White-Haired
Harbinger of Gratitude
Tim Hare
Copyright HARE 2010
All Rights Reserved
"Shining the Rainbow Light of Gratitude
from the historic West Ward neighborhood
of Easton, Pennsylvania"
"R" for Reverend
Please click on YouTube.com link below to see this week's video:
Posts
3 comments:
Tim~
Loved this post--could you explain a little for our readers about the Lenape Walking Treaty you refer to? I remember you explained it to me once and I couldn't believe it. I love the way you tie in all people in this post.
And I 100% agree as to gay culture being the last bastion of inequality in America--I hope that the Supreme Court will soon rule that nobody should be litigating LOVE in a country that professes to be the home of the FREE, where everyone is created EQUAL. It boggles my mind that in the day and age, we still have extremists--many of them professed "patriots" trying to restrict who an American can be in a relationship with, and with whom that American can decide to share their homes, money, business, insurance, right to the body of a partner upon death, etc. It is outright hypocrisy to claim to be fighting for the freedom of America and then trying to restrict the freedoms of law-abiding Americans.
Laws should only be used to control acts of hate, not love.
The Walking Purchase is one of the most dramatic examples of how our "founding" fathers and mothers swindled and cheated their way into owning this land. My personal ancestors were some of them. They fought in the revolutionary war and the civil war but they also fought Indians. I guess all land is about waves and waves of conquerors. The Indians it did too - tribe against tribe. Maybe thats just the way of the world. But the swindling and cheating not something to be proud of and perhaps in a karmic way Easton is still paying back for it.
Tim,
I enjoyed this post immensely. Most folks do not know the history of NHC and the ‘Walking Purchase.’ More importantly just how exploitive it was. It is my conviction that many of the issues we wrestle with today in our little city are tied to those and other events in the past—and as you say, something we cannot change.
Excellent on Martin Luther King, Jr. When I grew up, the ‘coloreds’ all lived along one road, on the outside of the main body of the town, and not surprisingly, without sidewalks or street lights. My father was active in the movement in the 50’s and 60’s. So I am grateful to you for your boldness to stand for justice.
As a civil rights leader King was motivated by and shaped his worldview of passive resistance principally on his Christian convictions. He was brilliant and I often find myself reading his sermons for they are for every man, women and child regardless of color. Though I did not agree with aspects of President Obama’s platform, putting politics aside, tears welled my eyes (I’m sure like many others), when he was inaugurated. Yes, we have come a long way in our lifetime and like you, I am grateful for it.
It may be of interest to you that a couple years ago a handful of churches invited decedents of the Lenni Lenape to Easton. During a ceremony, along the Delaware, several Christians repented on behalf of Easton’s founding fathers and our nation for stealing the land from them.
My post on a ‘City of Neighbors’ was in part inspired by you. You may or not recall a day in October when you were on your way downtown. I was outside and was feeling very defeated by some experiences with the city. We said hello and you could see that I was ‘down,’ and I remember you saying to me, ‘Cheer up! It’s Halloween after all! Go have some fun.” My take away from that was when faced with seem to be insurmountable (particularly bureaucratic!) hurdles, right next to you is a neighbor who treats you with respect and dignity and reminds you that there is promise in every day. Thank you for that.
The ‘church’ has done great injury to image bearers like you and Earl. I’m sorry for that. It is one thing to have convictions, especially about Scripture, and it is another to use it for hate and bigotry. Likewise, it is one thing to have convictions about a particular lifestyle, and it is another to use it to be intolerant of those who are intolerant. After all the intolerance of intolerance is intolerance. A collision of convictions does not necessarily have to be equated thusly. It is okay for people to disagree on matters, even strongly, providing it promotes an opportunity for understanding for all parties and does not result in injustice.
Thanks again for this post.
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