BLACK HISTORY MONTH



It is BLACK HISTORY MONTH in America.



WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE BLACK HERO and WHY?



Wow! This is tough for me. There are soooo many greats, famous and not.



Like Rosa Parks who REFUSED to sit in the back of the bus during the Civil Rights Movement and was jailed. Wow, I thought, if she can stand up for what's right so MUST I.



Or Harriot Tubman, who started the Underground Railway and saved thousands upon thousands of black slaves. She made me think I OWE BIG TIME to something for someone always, just because I am on this planet.



Or would it be the hundreds of thousands of unsung heroes who will never be known but who put one foot in front of the other and kept going under the worst imaginable time in history next to the Holocaust or today in Syria.



I guess if someone put a gun to my head and threatened to pull the trigger if I did not pick one person, without pause, I would select NELSON MANDELA . . . Madeba! For too many reasons to list here. But here is one, no one knows about.



The pictures I have on this article are of a lady named Grace who works for South African Airways. Her work is possible SOLELY because of Madeba. When Mandela got out of prison and was walking, he spotted her, walked over to her and said "You will never serve tea again." He educated her. HE MADE HER MIRACLE. And that is just one thing he did in a simple minute of walking to freedom that day.



How did I meet her? In Johannesburg, South Africa my luggage was lost. I went to South African Airways office to report it. She spotted me and said there was something about me that she knew I was somebody special. The next day one of my meetings at the attached hotel was canceled. So, I was in the lobby reading the paper with nothing to do. Suddenly she showed up. We went to a private room and had a long meeting. If my other meeting had not been canceled this would not have happened. I hope this will make you realize to pay attention to the miracles coming at you.



Mandela often said "The struggle IS my life". So, as we trudge ahead, one step at a time, sometimes discouraged, let us all remember this and other great people who have shown us by their attitude that we don't have to become somebody special. We already are. Use it well.

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