1913

My mother was born on May 19th, 1913. When she was born 110 years ago, World War I hadn’t happened, the Civil War was a recent memory for many. There were ex-slaves who still worked in the family fields and household. The whole idea of the Civil Rights movement was unimaginable to virtually anyone. Radio had been invented but I don’t think it had reached rural Mississippi. Television and computers were things of which few folks could imagine.

We can go back some 2,500 years to get some perspective. There was a fellow named Heraclitus who lived in Ephesus. He pre-dated Socrates and the more famous Greek philosophers but has had influence down through the centuries.

Heraclitus believed everything was constantly in a state of flux, always “becoming” rather than “being”. He thought the unifying element/process was fire which is an excellent metaphor for the changeable nature of things.

His famous quotes were, “The only constant in life is change.” And “No man steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river, and he is not the same man.”

That is, strictly speaking, a simple fact. The river flows on, new replacing old constantly. We humans change with every moment of life no matter how desperately we seek to hold on to things “the way they’re supposed to be”.

I remind myself frequently that our children and grandchildren will construct the world in which they want to live and we cannot dictate what that world will look like. We seek to instill good values in the following generations but we cannot control what they choose.

In the world of my birth non-white races were considered inferior by many. Non-Christian religious beliefs were heretical, a blasphemy, and even Catholics were suspect. Divorce was spoken of in somewhat hushed tones which clearly indicated disgrace. Folks did not speak of homosexuality except in very euphemistic terms. The reality of transgender people was denied completely. Times have changed regardless of some folks desire to deny reality.

My mother was raised with very traditional, deep south, values. I know she was often baffled by my contrary beliefs, even in childhood,. She disagreed with her youngest son on things she considered sacrosanct but, I give her great credit. In my childhood and youth, I read voraciously. I consumed every book I could get my hands on. Regardless of her personal beliefs, momma never once suggested the library should ban any books. She never once said I was forbidden to read something. She never once suggested my teachers should not be allowed to teach what they thought was right.

I find the movement today to ban books and dictate, even to university professors, what they can and cannot teach, to be not only tragic but a violation of our basic social contract. Knowledge, even of contrary beliefs, is essential for society to advance and improve itself. To suppress knowledge, even of things with which we disagree, is a crime against civilization itself.