We Bumble Onward

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." 

 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  

Certainly it is a day upon which I should make mention of such splendid books as Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  

written by Doreen Rappaport
illustrated by Bryan Collier

And David A. Adler's A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr. 

written by David A. Adler
illustrated by Robert Casilla 

And I Have a Dream, featuring the great man's words, along with Kadir Nelson's handsome illustrations. 

It is a noble day to remember that all for which the great man is known was once in the 

unimaginable future of a 

bright little boy in Atlanta, Georgia, in a very different America. And, on this here anniversary of Inauguration Day, please note that young Martin had just turned 8 at the time of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's second Inaugural, in 1937.

A freezing, rainy day for an Inauguration, January 20, 1937.

Never before had a U.S. president taken his Oath of Office on the 20th of January. (If you're reading this, it's likely that you know the big day used to be in March and had been since 1789.) On that raw winter day in Washington, DC, 1937. FDR quoted a long-gone Victorian poet, Arthur Wm. Edgar O'Shaughnessy,  when he said "each age is a dream that is dying, or one that is coming to birth." It was a day to "reconsecrate our country to long-cherished ideals." 

And so it is with this very Monday, this holiday commemorating the words and deeds of an idealistic leader, this anniversary of commencements. It's a far out day for rededication, to our works, our books, our readers, our dear ones, our purposes, various and precious. Though this blog is coming to an end, I'd be willing to bet that I'm not the only author who could cheerfully quote Franklin Roosevelt's buddy, Winston Churchill: "We bumble onward."