we are somebody

I was with some people last night, sitting just past the seating at the coffee shop, and someone was talking about growing up with a father who was a garbage man. He shared some feelings about what that felt like, kids in school talking about their doctor and software engineer and ceo dads. Noting, as well, his dad always provided for the family.

I flashed on a newsreel I’d seen nearly 60 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. arriving in Memphis, Tennessee to support the ‘Sanitation Workers’ strike. So I shared that, I was trying to be supportive and generous to a fellow human being, and added that every single one of those workers on the picket lines and marches were carrying the same sign – “I am Somebody.” This very me, Guardian of the Galaxy’s Rocket’s, “No one like me ‘cept me.” Michael Connelley’s Harry Bosch’s, “Everybody counts or nobody counts.”

It turns out my looking way-back view was off. Googling correctly showed each sanitation worker carrying this sign – “I am a Man.” I re-discovered that earlier this morning, and right away cut myself some slack for sharing false information. It was the thought that counts.

In her book “A Fire Runs Through All Things,” Zen Roshi and Australian Susan Murphy uses this Bantu word – ‘ubuntu’ – which translates as, “I am because we are.” That’s the real big “we.”

Then there’s The Cramps’ song ‘Garbageman’, with its Zen Koan-like line, “You ain’t no punk you punk.”

Which is all I have here this morning.