Throughout history, the unanimous honor of civil rights leaders and natural disasters in the Washington, D.C. region were considered relative impossibilities. Having never experienced either in this life, the week starting on Sunday was monumental as it held the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. memorial's official unveiling and a 5.9-magnitude earthquake that resonated up the East Coast from Virginia to Toronto. Oddly enough, as the times revealed these commemorators of stress, joyful gratitude for Life and a random sense of humor encouraged what popped in my mind as Mother Nature's ode to a rebellious humanity via the music and chorus of Mariah Carey's "Shake It Off". I know, I know... weird but true.
As far as the Earth is concerned, the proverbial "they" say that area residents can expect tremors anywhere from a day to a season from now. Mapping exactly how and when the monument will ripple in the lives of visitors may prove more difficult. Also, with her center of gravity shifted by the absence of life and performance partner, Nick Ashford, does legendary musician Valerie Simpson even register any of this? At some point, changes of devastating and pleasing natures will reach every doorstep. Despite our prejudices, intentions and expectations, it is this relativity that makes us family. All praise is due to Our Father for the hear and (k)now.
