I lost my shoes

This was a cold, cold day in DC... so cold they cancelled the MLK parade. I went to the museums, and counted 10 men preparing to spend the night out in the cold. They had beds all set up, and some of them had wool blankets, some had sleeping bags. They were mostly by the EPA building, near the Federal Triangle Metro stop. After spending some time at the Natural History museum, I went over to the National Cathedral to help take down the EYES WIDE OPEN exhibit. I was helping pack up the civilian shoes and the lists of civilian names. I got pretty hot doing this work, and took off a couple of layers. After all the shoes were in the bag, I took off my shoes and left them by my coat and extra layers..... and someone picked them up and put them into one of the 40 or so bags full of civilians clothes! Talk about looking for a needle in a haystack! Well, we didn't even try to look for my shoes. I just adopted some other shoes, which are way too big, but I will return them this week when I got to the next exhibit of EYES WIDE OPEN at the National City Christian Church. I thought it was pretty funny, but I didn't want to take the metro home in my socks when it is 15 degrees outside. I think I will find my shoes later this week, although the fact that there are black will make it difficult. Most of the shoes there are black.

The event at the National Cathedral was called SOUL FORCE, and it included EYES WIDE OPEN and several other events to honor Martin Luther King Jr. and to promote peace in the world, in ourselves and in our community.

Here is a quote from MLK: "We must find an alternative to bloodshed" and one of my favorites: "Violence is self-defeating". And here are some highlights from the program today at the National Cathedral (an amazingly beautiful building, but quite excessive, in my opinion):

"Siyahamba"
(Zulu Song from South Africa)
Siyahamb'a kooka nyenih kwenkos!
We are marching in the light of God!

"We Must Dream"
(Lyrics and Music by James Selway)
Last verse:
We will dream of a world safe for children,
We will dream ev'ry child can be free.
Free to sleep in peace at night,
Free to wake with joy in the light.
Free to play, to dance and to sing,
Free to let their laughter ring.

"Al Shlosha"
(Text from Pirkei Avot - Jewish Morality Laws)
Al shlosha, d'varim haolam kayam,
Al haemet v'al hadin, v'al hashalom
The world is sustained by three things,
By truth, by justice and by peace.