"Since the pandemic started, I've wanted to stay connected with our community. Through the form of a weekly blog, I share my insights and reflections on various topics."
On Thursday of last week, PBS Newshour did a story on Ruby Bridges. She is a writer but is best known as a trailblazer for civil rights. 60 years ago, she was the first black child to desegregate an all-while elementary school in New Orleans. Many of us have seen those pictures of Federal marshals escorting her past groups of protestors into the William Frantz Elementary School. That walk was immortalized in a Norman Rockwell painting “The Problem We All Live With.”
I was reading an article just after the new year began and it provided some ideas on how to reset after the challenging year of 2020. I’ll get to some of those ideas down below. The opening line of the article is “It’s hard to recall if there has ever been as much of a desire to turn the page from one calendar year to the next.”
Well, the year didn’t quite start out the way I had hoped. As I write, many of us are still in shock about what we witnessed in Washington on Wednesday. Maybe it was not all that surprising, but it was shocking nonetheless.
Recently, 60 Minutes ran a segment about Alexander McLean who founded and runs an organization called Justice Defenders. His stated mission is to defend the defenseless. In Kenya, it is estimated that 80% of prisoners have never had legal representation. In many cases, they don’t even have a copy of their judgment nor do they know the crime for which they were convicted.
Last Friday, Judy Woodruff from the PBS News Hour offered a tribute to Mark Shields who was joining the News Hour for his last show that day. He has been a political commentator on the News Hour for the past 19 years offering analysis and commentary alongside New York Times columnist and author David Brooks.
The holidays are a season of giving, sharing and reflection. This year, due to Covid, a brutal election season, the controversy over election results, calls for social justice, and the suffering with which so many are dealing, I find that reflection is consuming more of my time. Just this morning, I was exchanging holiday wishes with one of my clients and I reflected on our first meeting.