Generosity, that's what should happen.
Ann: Mrs. Tubman?
Harriet Tubman: Auntie, now, you know that. We done gone too far to stand on ceremony.
You know, sometimes I miss the beauty of the fall leaves and the snap in the air and them cracklins, sweet potatoes, and apple pie.
Ann: You don’t have food on the other side?
Auntie: Not so’s you notice it. Oh yeah, we right sociable here. We get together over food and drink and have ourselves a fine ole time discussin' what we’re workin’ on, but it ain’t the same as that buttered biscuit meltin’ in yo’ mouth....
Ann: Auntie, stop, you’ll have me raiding the pantry…..
Auntie: Well, chile, I’m talkin to you about this because sometimes you folks don’t stop to notice some the fine things that being in a body can do for you. You jes rush on out with yo’ work and yo’ fraidy cat selves and miss that moment when the sun hits yo face or when a breeze makes the leaves shimmer. I purely loved bein’ out in nature – not when I was running from the law a'course, but when nobody could find me or bother me.
I had a lot on my plate jes trying to survive but I never doubted that I would push through one way or t’other when I was connected heart to the sky and feet on the ground. All you folks dealing with all that power rumblin' beneath yo’ feet can sometime forget who you are when you let fear and anger take over.
Don’t do it! Cause that’s what leads to hatred. Whatevah you send out there’s gonna come back to you ten times as big so send out hope, confidence, respect, and love, and that’s what you will see comin’ back at you befo’ long. It’s like one o’ them boomerang things that you think you got rid of only to see it double back and come at you full force so make sure you’re givin’ what you wants to receive.
I ain’t sayin you got it easy because that rumblin’ that you feel is the real thing, the shakin’ of the earth that portends a big change because sometimes it take a volcano explodin‘ before that change starts to become a reality.
You got the chance now to take yo' hurts and yo' nerves and yo' anger and see if you can change them into somethin' better when you get to be on top. That's when it's good to remember who you are in nature, in God's great creation.
This dark period is showing its true colors, that is, it ain’t got no color, it ain’t got nothing for nobody and that all its promises have given way to the naked truth which is that it ain't go no clothes.
Now you gonna have the chance to show folks how it should be done, how it shoulda been done, so you start thinkin’ now about how you gonna behave when you got the power.
What you got do is fix things so that this type of takeover won’t ever be able to sneak up on us again. These haters have been lurking since I was a child and long before that. Now they right out front and center.
Make sure you don’t follow their example. You treat everyone like they an important soul because that’s what they is. We aim to save as many as possible, so you do like my friend John Lewis says, treat every soul with respect and believe in the power of the Lord. If we do that, it will be all right and the Lord will carry us through.*
John Lewis: Ann, that’s right. Don’t you worry about where you got these words or start second guessing yourself. I said them, I meant them, and I’m getting them through to you and everyone I can however best I can get it done. We are all striving to do God’s work, and it is not for us to question how Spirit works through us but simply to let it flow.
Auntie: Go on now and get this out for people to see that we are still marchin’, each in our own way and each of you in yours. We can’t let loss, privilege, destitution, or power distract us from our goal with is the everlasting creation of peace and harmony in God’s world.
October 11, 2020
* “The journey begins with faith – faith in the dignity and the worth of every human being. That is an idea with roots in scripture and in the canon of America, in Genesis, and in the Declaration of Independence. You have to believe that. You have to believe it. It’s all going to work out.” As quoted from Jon Meacham’s book, His Truth Is Marching On; John Lewis and the Power of Hope in Jon Katz’s blog, Bedlam Farm Journal, October 9, 2020