January 11, 2017 The Skanner Page 3
Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We Must Be At Our Best When Things Get Bad
By Hank Sanders
Alabama State Senator
I
desperately called on my
dear mother. Across the
chasm of her death nearly 20
years ago, she reminded me
of what she said to me and to
her many children nearly sixty
years ago. I felt her spirit mov-
ing within me. I was strength-
ened. Now, I can go on.
I will share with you why
I called upon my mother on
this occasion. However, be-
fore I share the why, I want
to share with you what she
said so many years ago. At the
time, we were nine children, a
mother and a father living in a
three-room house. Mind you,
not a three-bedroom house,
but a three-room house – a
kitchen, a middle room and a
front room.
When things got real bad,
our mother would call us to-
gether in the front room. We
had only one chair in the whole
house. She would sit in the
chair and make us children sit
on the floor in front of her. She
would go quiet until she had
our full attention. Then she
would say: “Children, things
are always kind of bad with
this big po’ family and all. But
they are real bad now.” She
would go quiet for a long mo-
ment, causing us to focus even
more intently. Then she would
Hank
Sanders
Alabama
State
Senator
continue: “But don’t y’all wor-
ry. I am at my best when things
get bad.” It was powerful. It
forged our strength. It pre-
pared us to engage struggle. It
lifted our spirits. It gave us
hope. Even today, this memory
brings tears to my eyes, trem-
bling to my being, and hope to
my heart.
I called upon my mother on
Wednesday morning when I
heard that Businessman Don-
ald Trump was now Presi-
dent-Elect Trump. I went real-
ly deep inside myself. I could
sense the hard times coming. I
had to call on my dear deceased
mother to help me through the
moment.
I hope and pray that I am
wrong, but I feel hard times
coming. Let me tell you why.
The most critical thing a pres-
ident does is to set the tone for
the entire country. His/her
every action stimulates mil-
lions of actions and/or reac-
tions. His every refusal or fail-
ure to act stimulates numerous
actions and/or reactions. And
every action or failure to act
is viewed through the prism
of everything that was said
by the candidate during the
election. Businessman Trump
said and did many disturbing
things as a presidential can-
didate. That’s why I see hard
times coming. We must be at
our best when things get bad.
The negative germinates,
takes root, grows and produces
bad fruit without cultivation.
It is like weeds. The positive
requires continuous cultiva-
tion to produce good fruit. It is
like the crop we plant. Because
“
ly and psychologically. To be
fair, these seeds of abuse were
planted eons ago.
But Businessman Trump has
cultivated these seeds with
the fertilizer of example, the
waters of acceptance, and the
warmth of election success.
These seeds will grow and
bear many and varied poi-
sonous fruit. The challenges
will be even greater and more
widespread. We must be at our
best when things get bad.
I am afraid that the seeds
planted in the immigration
Businessman Trump planted such
negative seeds as a candidate, a Pres-
ident Trump’s mere presence in the
most powerful position in the world
causes those seeds to germinate
Businessman Trump planted
such negative seeds as a can-
didate, a President Trump’s
mere presence in the most
powerful position in the world
causes those seeds to germi-
nate, grow and bear bad fruit.
We must be at our best when
things get bad.
I fear that the seeds plant-
ed during the campaign will
tell us how women and girls
can be mistreated. We already
have too much mistreatment
of women and girls. Too many
are abused verbally, physical-
fields will bear poisonous
fruits for millions of immi-
grants, and not just undocu-
mented immigrants. Sustained
fear does terrible things to us,
especially to our children.
When we blame complex
economic and societal woes
on those who appear differ-
ent and are less powerful, it
becomes extremely destruc-
tive. Already we see more
children bullying other chil-
dren of foreign descent. Some
children passed out “deporta-
tion notices” to other children
just days after the election.
We must be at our best when
things get bad.
I am fearful that health care
will be completely denied to
tens of millions of Ameri-
cans and reduced for millions
more. Businessman Trump
has promised to repeal and
replace Obama Care. We
heard much about repeal
and little about replace. I re-
member the old folks saying,
“When you have your health,
you have everything.” Having
our health may not be every-
thing, but it lays the founda-
tion for us to get what we need
in life. The growth of an an-
ti-health care spirit for the left
out will be very bad. We must
be at our best when things are
bad.
I am terrified that the fear
of terrorism will mushroom.
Businessman Trump whipped
up that fear, tying terrorism to
the 1.5 billion Muslims around
the world. When terror and
religion mix, it produces ex-
tremely bad fruit. We must
be at our best when things get
bad.
When the powerful feels
weak, it creates a very dan-
gerous dynamic. It is very bad
when the most powerful at-
tempts to prove its power out
of a self-perception of weak-
ness. We must be at our best
when things get bad.
Get there
Your day belongs to you
Get rides when you need them. Safe, reliable pickups
within minutes. All from your phone. With Uber, your
money goes a long way.
Become a driver
Drive with Uber and earn great money as an independent
contractor. Get paid weekly just for helping our community of
riders get rides around town. Be your own boss and get paid in
fares for driving on your own schedule.
uber.com
