Lessons on Love in Memphis

A Middle School Field Trip

by Wendy Ward
Denver, Colorado


	"When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Moslem-Jewish-Buddhist belief about love is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John, 'Let us love one another; for love is God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God'" --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

At the National Civil Rights Museum in the Lorraine Hotel, the place where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated, our group of 47 middle school students squeezed into a small cell with four metal bunks inside. Once we were crammed together against the walls and along the low, hard, bunks, our tour guide explained that this was how children, arrested for standing up for their civil rights, were held in jail for days on end without food, without water. These youngsters, following the leadership of Dr. King, himself inspired

by Mahatma Gandhi, had stood up non-violently for their rights and dignity as human beings. My students cringed at the thought of being held in such uncomfortable conditions. "That place was so sad, I can hardly get over it," one of my students wrote. "Why did they have to do that to them?"

Towards the end of a semester-long study of civil rights, our middle school traveled to Memphis, Tennessee to learn firsthand about African American history and the struggles for equality in our country. I was reminded time and again throughout the trip of how Swami's universal message echoes throughout history, transcending borders and racial divides. Although I cannot directly lecture my public school students about Sathya Sai's Human Values, I am delighted when our curriculum opens avenues to present the very essence of His teachings.

On our first day in Memphis, we visited the massive St. Jude's Hospital, which offers free medical care to children. I was surprised to learn about its origin. It seems a young comedian of Lebanese descent, Danny Thomas, struggling to get his career off the ground, prayed to St. Jude, the Catholic patron saint of lost causes. His prayers for assistance were eventually answered, and he became a famous and wealthy Hollywood star.

Grateful to St. Jude, Mr. Thomas wanted to give "something back" by doing something good for others in the community; but he was not sure how he should to this. Then, he heard of a young black boy who had been injured in a motorcycle accident in Memphis. Because of his race, the boy was refused medical care by each of the hospitals to which he was taken, and ended up bleeding to death. Danny Thomas soon decided to build a children's hospital that would offer medical care free of charge in Memphis. He hired an African American architect to build

the hospital, but the mayor said he would not permit a hospital designed by a black man in his city. Mr. Thomas then gave the mayor a choice: allow the architect to proceed or lose St. Jude's Hospital project altogether. The mayor conceded, and St. Jude opened its doors in 1962.

When my students and I visited St. Jude's, our tour guide Mrs. Elaine Turner took us to a mosque constructed on the property, just inside the gate; we were curious as to why Danny Thomas, the Catholic benefactor of St. Jude Hospital, would build a mosque here. Inside, our questions were answered. Mr. Thomas' ancestors had been Muslim, and amongst the exhibit about his family history, is a quotation from Kahlil Gibran that reads, "He who denies his heritage has no heritage."

The next day of our visit, Mrs. Turner took us to a public library that she, as an elementary school student, had been arrested for entering. Because she is black, she had not been permitted to use the public libraries in her own city. She described how she and her classmates wore their "Sunday best" and spent their whole summers "sitting-in" at the local libraries, reading, and being arrested for breaking the segregation laws. Each time, the judge would say to her mother, "You have to tell her that she must not break the law," and each time her mother would tell the judge, "I'll talk to her." Yet, her mother never told her not to proceed. She understood that, as Mahatma Gandhi said, "There are unjust laws, just as there are unjust men."

My students began to look upon Mrs. Turner with increased admiration and peppered her with questions: "What was it like in jail?" "Weren't you afraid?" "What inspired you to do that?" Patiently, she explained to them that somewhere inside she knew that standing up for justice was simply the right thing to do.

We ended our visit to Memphis at B.B King's Blues Club on Beale St. "Music is what brought the people together," Mrs. Turner explained to us. "Black and white, they came together because of the music." And I saw this with my own eyes: after learning so much of the suffering caused by people separating themselves from one another, our students - white and black, Indian and Japanese, danced together to the house band's joyful tunes until we had to drag them off to bed.

By the time we returned to Denver, students and faculty alike had gained a much better perspective on life. We realized that though our nation's history is checkered with numerous instances of cruelty and injustice, there are always examples of the opposite to be found if we examine the situations closely enough. We find there are many, many American heroes of whom we can be proud. Dr. King, of course, is one. But even Danny Thomas and Mrs. Elaine Turner, each in their own way, teach us that love can overcome hatred and that there is no higher good than to "love all and serve all."

Reflecting on our trip, one student wrote, "If I were to have a conversation with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today, I would tell him, 'thank you,' as a tear would run down my face. I wouldn't care if he said anything or not. I would just look at him with total respect. I think we all learned a lot from this trip, but I know there is a lot more to learn."