For Granted

I'm sorry. I forgot. I did not mean to, but not meaning to doesn't change the fact that I still did. I'm sorry I forgot you, Doctor King and Malcolm X, assuming my life would be the same without you. It doesn't matter the pigment of your skin, your fight changed my reality too. I'm sorry students who fought so valiantly- and even sacrificed their lives for not only a dream, but for the belief, the knowledge, that we too can do something, and that if you can change this world, you must. I'm sorry to the every day people, the ones who will never have stories written about them, no movies made, but who still suffered the cruelty of others, the barbed words and the always looming threats, because they knew it was their responsibility to make this world a better place for their children. I'm sorry to all those inheritors of our nation's Great Promise who fought to make true the words "Freedom, Liberty, and Justice for all," the fight that at its core never forgot that all men are created equal and the fight that finally said enough. In essence, I am sorry that I- and others- take for granted this which so many of you have toiled, been tormented, and died for. It may never be enough, but Thank you.