This weekend I was compelled to go to the movies and see Selma, the story of Martin Luther King’s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965. I find when spirit moves me to do something and I follow it, magic happens, as it did this weekend.
The movie itself stirred my emotions and focused my thoughts upon what we can do as individuals and within a group to make dramatic changes. The bravery of the people who stood up for their rights in the 60s is beyond what I can fathom. I do not think I could be as fearless. I salute them. As the film came to an end and the credits subsided, no one in the theater moved which left me wondering. Am I doing enough? What can I do to help those who are oppressed for I know prejudice still exists within this country and throughout the civilized world.
Though I was alone, I turned and spoke to a couple behind me, only to find out that we had met before. We did not want the evening to end so we continued our conversation back at my home. The synchronicity continued. The man’s father was passing and was born one year before my mom. His dad was a vet from World War II and had a similar story to my first husband. They both had memories of what they saw in the war yet this recollection of their truth of what happened was denied. Not only did the military invalidate his father’s memories but, they put him under psychiatric care for sticking to his story.
War is ugly and its effects do not stop at the battleground. They continue till death do us part. The same goes for the brave souls who stood up for their rights as American citizens in the South. I ask myself, “When will this stop? What can I do to prevent the continuation of this physical and mental abuse?”
For now, I will keep my heart open and know that the Light I direct out to situations and people will not be in vain. I command it!
In the Light,
Marnie Vincolisi
