"Hew from a mountain of despair a stone of hope."

It's Martin Luther King day in the USA. I was interested to see these photographs of a new memorial to him that opened last year in Washington. The Statue appears impressive, the size of it alone seems to represent the size of this man's courage and dedication to do what he had to do. One inscription, of which there are many on the memorial, is taken from MLK's "I have a dream" speech from 1963.  I am also moved by the inclusion of two immense slabs of granite that symbolise the mountain of despair, visitors have to pass through this, to reach the statue...."The stone of Hope". What is also impressive is that the memorial includes 24 niches and space for more, which honour individuals who also gave their lives to the civil rights movement...including the four children who were murdered in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

Maybe I will get to visit it, and pay my respects this year! I was in Memphis in 2009 and spent time at the Civil Rights Museum which is built on the site of the motel where he was shot. MLK reminds me to take action today. I am sitting with this poem and the song(listen below) that started playing on my ipod on the way home from work today; and 1'm renewing my commitment to do what ever I can, however small, to ensure that human rights abuses do not go unchallenged.

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.

Pastor Niemoller

Just a few days ago I finished reading this book(see below) by comedian and rambler Mark Thomas. The book was lent to me by my sister, who remarked when she gave it to me, that ...."I thought you would have been up to date with the situation in Israel-Palestine." 

I had to confess to her that I had been "too busy" to keep properly up to date, or take any action; feeling helpless to do anything except blog occasionally, and post to Facebook or Twitter. Reading this book  recently, I have again been in shock and disbelief, about how the barrier between Palestine and Israel continues to affect the Palestinian people. I am woken up to a situation that cannot possibly be allowed to continue....and yet it does. Since I visited Israel in 1984 things have got steadily worse. Last week, this headline was reported on the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs website, taken from a longer article that can be found there:

This week, Israeli forces injure 18 Palestinians and settlers injure another five in the West Bank. Three houses were demolished in a Jordan Valley community. Access to the herding community of Khan al Ahmar blocked. In Gaza, a worker was killed and another injured while inside a tunnel. Supplies for critical patients enough for more than a month were received. Limited agricultural produce leaves Gaza.

 Full report available on the website(see link above)

Let us all keep working, in our own ways, in all of our far flung corners, apart but together... to hew a stone of hope, and to work to bring the freedoms we might take for granted, to others. Let us do whatever we can to bring about change.

I wish you could know
What it means to be me
Then you'd see and agree
That every man should be free