Question Week 5:

Not many of us are asked to sacrifice our lives in the name of freedom. Military members are some of those people. My husband is a Navy war veteran, so sacrifice was required from both of us early in our marriage. But, military families volunteer for that sacrifice.

I chose this picture of the sculpture in front of the Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery, AL. as my representation of the Civil Rights movement. I actually took this picture when I recently visited the center. The round wheel is a granite slab inscribed with the names of those who gave their lives for civil rights. Those names are recognizable to those of us who have studied about Civil Rights, probably unfamiliar to those who have not. The inscriptions are in chronological order and water quietly flows over the wheel. There is a space on the wheel left unscribed, to represent those unknown names. The inscription on the back wall says, "..until justice rolls down like waters....", a Biblical quote used by Dr. Martin Luther King. The movement had great leaders but the real warriors of the Civil Rights movement were the nameless individuals who marched, sat at lunch counters or registered to vote, even when they could not be sure their efforts would result in any improvement during their life time. They represent what freedom means to me. Freedom is the ability to say, be and do what I want, within the confines of the law. It means reaching for my full potential. That is what this movement was about and why it was so important to the countless individuals who were willing to step forward in the name of freedom.