Like a tree, standing in the water

Perhaps there is no more fitting song to mark the legacy of Rosa Parks than Pops Staples version of "I shall not be moved", which has the chorus:

I shall not.
I shall not be moved.
I shall not.
I shall not be moved.
I'm like a tree,
standing in the water,
And I shall not be moved.

Rev. Al Sharpton might not be able to move voters on his own behalf, but he moved me when he called on us all to make a Rosa Resolution during his eulogy:

James Crowe Junior, Esquire

Al Sharpton could have been speaking coyly about President Bush's avoidance of Cindy Sheehan when he said:


Its easy to remember activists after they're gone.
Its [another thing] to be called on to be active and work and walk with them while they're still here.



I admire Rosa for knowing what to do to change the world for the better and having the fortitude to do it.

I don't know what to do to change the world I see and don't like, and I know fundamental things are wrong. I can see that the people in charge are not going to make a difference and it is such a despairing conclusion.

How can I make a difference the way Rosa Parks did? How can I get my own life to have that kind of impact? How did Rosa know what to do on December 1st, 1955?

Al ended his eulogy for Rosa by saying, "I intend to stand up wherever I see injustice, and if I can't stand up then I'll speak out, and if I can't speak out then I will get a chair like Rosa Parks and just sit in the way".

Am I in anybody's way?

What should my Rosa Resolution be?

I wish I knew. I feel I am being called but it comes without direction and I don't know my response.

Rosa knew and that's what made her a part of history. Her response was so simple yet so powerful that Presidents stood in her wake.