It’s Hump Day … Yeah!
I almost felt like it was Friday there for a minute!! Crazy, right?!! I must’ve been “vacationing” again … for a second!! I know for me, I like to seek people … to look up to!! You know how everybody talks about “heroes”?!! Folks get into “squabbles” because they differ on the content of the character of their “heroes”!! For me, I have examples of great people … probably beyond the “hero” status in terms of what they endured … that I try and need to look up to when I am facing some challenges in my own life. Among my favorites, and you already know, are my parents. Yet, I know there were … are until recently … people who had it tough. There were folks who worked really hard, against all odds! Enter the Tuskegee Airmen …
These African American men studied flying with second and third rate equipment, planes that they learned to repair and keep flying, and skills at flying even while being considered second rate citizens in the U.S.A.! These were men who had been treated unfairly but rose from difficult economic conditions, many of them, and fought against not only racism … but the German aggressors in World War II. This is not my first “take” on the fame of the “Airmen”, but I’ve come back to visit this theme as another of the last of the Tuskegee Airmen is laid to rest.
May we say good bye for now … to Lt. Colonel Edridge Williams … who was laid to rest at a service in Miami on Monday. Eldridge graduated in Miami in 1942 … where were you in 1942 … received the Congressional Gold Medal from former Pres. Bush in 2007 and passed away this past weekend at the age of 97!! Each time I write something or say something about these men, I think of my former boarding school coach, Maurice Blake, who is around the same age as he recounted stories to me and even gave me booklets on the Tuskegee Airmen and their fame! These are some people that I’d like to look up to … just sayin’ … beyond “hero” status, in my opinion. Join me … take a few moments in this “land of the free, home of the brave” … and say so long to Lt. Colonel Eldridge Williams, RIP, Sir!
Peace,
John I. Cook, Director
Educational Excellence 