Drawing by Marly Mandela Anderson
by Ernie McCray
Looking at my
seven-year-old granddaughter
Marley’s drawing
of the smiling faces
of her family,
her mom,
her dad,
and her grandma and me
and her brother and her
and Whiskey and Baby,
cats of long standing
in the family,
well, the portrait
soothes me,
like a breath
of needed fresh air,
as what she drew
was her way of telling us all
that she loves us deeply
which like a whisper to me
says that she
and her generation
are aware of what’s
proper and decent
and can weather
the nonsense
and lack of common sense
that their nation
is handing
down to them
and become wise
to their need,
with a little assistance
from earlier generations,
to undo the lies
and propagandizing
that have characterized
humankind early
in this century,
and proceed
to read as many of any books
that might be banned
as they can
and come to understand
why they were forbidden,
and come to also comprehend
why they should be at ease
saying “gay”
and not be spooked
if a trans woman
or man
comes their way,
and come to realize
that in order
for them to survive
and create
a loving society
they will have to know
their country’s
racist and sexist and oppressive history
as a back story
to becoming aware
of how things
have come to be
so, they can make the world
a place
wherein humanity
is as beautiful
as earth
is physically.
A world,
where a little girl
like my granddaughter, Marley,
far in the future,
will draw a portrait
of her family
with smiles on their faces
like those she drew
on the faces
of our family,
a testimony
that love
has withstood
the passage of time.
I thank Marley
for planting such thoughts
in my mind.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Ernie, thanks for another beautiful, hopeful story. I always feel good after I read your column.