John Lewis, 80, Rest in Peace: and Thank You

John Lewis, 80, Rest in Peace: and Thank You

This man is a hero for many reasons. He just died last night (July 17). Most men and women who live to eighty years old are heroes for that reason alone, to survive this long on earth and contribute to their fellow humans and the surrounding habitats, hopefully aiding and adding more to the world than subtracting.

Safe to say that John Lewis did this. He worked and sacrificed for his ethnic minority when he was young, along with many other noble and bold, and humble people, to include the august Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior, martyr and amazing American and human member of our history.

He was not just sacrificing and protesting for blacks, or negros, or Afro-Americans, or African-Americans alone. No, Lewis was doing that for all of us, because all of us count. He was the first to be struck on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, by police, protesting for equal rights and treatment and justice, and he was the last surviving speaker of those who made their historic march and speeches in Washington, D.C., at the Lincoln Memorial. (Mention of great 95 year-old C.T. Vivien, too, who died beside his friend John...)

Black lives matter, as much in 1619 as they do now in 2020. All lives matter, and whites or others should not be favored because because of their ethnic heritage or color of skin.

John Lewis fought for his people, represented them, but his people was us, all of us: white, brown, black, and those of all languages and backgrounds.

Others know him better, others will eulogize him better than me, others identify with him more than me. I am not of his party and nor am I partial to the totality of his causes, but I empathize and share much of his concerns and hopes as a government servant and person of the people. I too am pro-immigration, for example, the last of his 45 arrests protesting for the sake of the foreigners who have arrived in our country, not to be expelled as quickly as some would like. He did that at age 73 in 2013.

I salute you, Mr. Lewis, and I thank you for all your contributions.

You did everything you could, from my estimation, to be the best person that you could be, and help and lift the most you could. Well done.

And you lived a superb 80 years.

--Blogged it