COWABUNGA DUDE! PEACE AND LOVE (You've got to click this collage to see it larger)MARGARET AND I ARE FORTUNATE... My Mother would have said “Blessed.” It is our good fortune to have wonderful neighbors and friends. We were reminded today just how blessed we are. At the All Peoples’ Breakfast honoring the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this morning, I sat with Margaret, Jim, Irene, Ben, Grover, Bill, Judy, Bill and Ruth. Everyone at the table truly believes “all” means all in “liberty and justice for all” language of documents and pledges relating to civil rights in American culture and government. Among the friends at our table, there is no one who is mean spirited enough to want less for anyone else than she or he wants for herself/himself and for our own children. Our friends believe, for example, that it is the right thing to do to work for adequate health care for everyone, not just the people who, like us, are fortunate enough to be able to pay the premiums for health insurance. Everyone at the table agrees that we are still striving in our nation for equality and justice for all people, that we are not “there yet.”

We sat at Table 59 in Golden Hall, at the community center in downtown San Diego, a venue that belongs to ALL people. Signs numbering the tables were made by elementary school children in San Diego. Ours was made by Ricky who obviously likes the Mutant Ninja Turtles, Leonardo, Donatello, Rafael, and Michaelangelo. Ricky had drawn their pictures and printed the greeting, “Cowabunga Dude! Peace and Love.” He also found room for Dr. King’s Mantra, “Respect, Justice, Peace, Love...” and the theme of the breakfast, “Live the Dream.”