Future Forecast

Elijah Cummings, Representative of Maryland’s 7th District, died at age 68 on October 17, 2019.   He is someone I admire.  He was a strong supporter of civil rights, voting rights, and on maintaining protection of our Constitution.  He was the son of a sharecropper.

In the past year I watched him remain strong and outspoken despite his failing health.  One of my favorite quotes of his was from the Committee of Oversight and Reform (which he chaired) Cohen Hearing on February 27, 2019:

“When we’re dancing with the angels,
the questions will be asked, in 2019
what did we do to make sure we kept our
democracy intact?  Did we stand on the
sidelines and say nothing?”

📷 by geralt on pixabay

 Using that futuristic position to look back on our lives can either be unsettling or it can be of service.  Look at yourself in future years, or imagine the next generation pondering over our historical behaviors.  Or, as in Rep Cummings’ statement, consider how you will appear among “the angels,” standing before God himself, trying to explain yourself.

Take time now to look closely at what we are doing to ourselves, to each other, and towards all people.  The effects of our action or inaction ripple away further out than we can even imagine.  Not that we are in control of everything.  But we share in the control, we share with our influences, we share in developing outcomes.  Thus we are creating the future:  for improvement or destruction?

 Will the future be peaceful, with equality among us; will we have law and order, along with respect and justice?  What each of us does today does matter in transforming the outcomes for tomorrow.  You see, even the son of a sharecropper, Elijah, knew that power.  And he acted with that power until the day he died. 
Rest in peace, sir.    Theresa M

Elijah Cummings 1951-2019

*Elijah Cummings photo from his twitter account