Amazing Grace

“Modern art?” asked Cal.

“Nope,” Nia replied. “A metaphor.”

“For… ?” Calliope pressed.

“For what happened in the last 10 hours… Typist went bed last night on sheets as white and blank as snow.” Thalia’s fingers mimicked falling flakes.

“I thought we were going to show up here this morning like a freshly caught bluegill laying on a weathered dock board waiting for release.” Urania sighed.

“A flop!” Tal exclaimed.

“And the metaphor?” Cal’s impatience danced on the pencil she held.

“Well, before nodding off Typist said to herself — errr, us? — I am confident that I will awake with something to write about,” said Nia.

“And we didn’t disappoint, did we!” Thalia wiggled her eyebrows. “Look at all of the luscious color on that white space.”

“Ideas popping and blending like watercolors applied to wet paper.” Cal nodded. “Which one are we going to share?”

“Well — It is Martin Luther King Jr. Day,” said Thalia. “How about the golden nugget we heard yesterday from the hostage negotiator — on that podcast?”

“Oh… I like where you’re going,” said Cal. “Often the behavior that is modeled for us is how we act.”

“The negotiator talked about approaching difficult situations from a place of progress over dominance. He said that is not the behavioral stance he learned early on in his career. Other negotiators took pride in pinning them in the corner, crushing it, killing it, stomping on it… whatever it was…” Nia took a breath.

“And he also challenged… Pay attention to a lot of what we see on television, in film, on media sites. Much of it models dominance over progress,” Tal rounded out what the trio was itching to share. “Something to be aware of, huh? King’s quote applies to all us vs. them situations?”

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Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate the white man but to win his friendship and understanding.
~Martin Luther King Jr.