ALL B' HOLDIN'
“We are all b'holden' to somebody!”
An old man told me that many years ago and I must admit I did not accept his view completely at that time. Over years, however, I have found it to be very true. We owe someone in our past a great debt for help they gave us.
This “man” I quote was not a learned man in the usual academic sense. He was, as he called himself “a colored man” - which was the accepted form in use at that time, when one made any reference to an Afro American.
His name was “Carrington”. It was never shortened to “Carrie” or anything like that. It was always a dignified Carrington and he was a dependable, solid person in every way. He played guitar with a small group from his section of our semi-segregated Virginia community.
Without actually saying so, we knew that Carrington thought of parents as being basic to what a child might become. We owe our good parents a debt we cannot repay save by fulfilling an identical role with our own children... modified, censured and improved as needed. We should remember, too that parents are not always perfect not will we be in our time.
We owe a great many other people.
“They ain't nobody really free!”
Carrington said that because he was aware of the debt we all owe to our school teachers, our pastors in our religious, life, our doctors - in fact, the hosts of butchers, bakers and candlestick makers!
That group has been augmented greatly in this computer connected era.
We should be aware of these obligation. We should not feel crush and unable to repay them. We can't do that, but we can pass our precious wealth along to others.
A.L.M. July 22, 2003 [c312wds]
