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| (Image by Paul Whiting) |
We Shall Overcome
For Our Dr. King
I Have A Dream That,
Someday, We Shall Overcome
For Our Dr. King!
-Paul Whiting
(a.k.a., Small All White in the Forest)
"I am no barrier to its sun; the light and I are as one!"
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My Writing About The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Of Service (for 2013): For those, like myself, who prefer to 'volunteer financially' for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service (which occurs on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, since it is the same holiday), please join me in making a donation to the participating organization(s) of your choice in order to support the efforts of those who are honoring Dr. King's legacy! –Paul Whiting (written January 19th, 2013, revised April 18th, 2015, revised January 15th, 2022, revised January 16th, 2023 and revised March 21st, 2023)
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My Writing About Having A Difficult Time Deciding Whether I Should Donate To Various Charitable Organizations For The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Of Service (for 2022): I am having a difficult time deciding whether I should donate via Charity Navigator to various charitable organizations, so that I can 'volunteer financially' for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on January 17th, 2022, in order honor Dr. King's legacy of civic engagement. (By the way, the "Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service" is the same holiday as the "Martin Luther King Jr. Day" in case you did not know that—like I did not know that until recently!) You see, the reason that I am having a difficult time deciding whether, or not, to donate is due to that fact that I think that my blogs are being sabotaged by someone who is very 'tech savvy,' and they may be someone that I know, because I have noticed strange things happening while I have been editing my writing, including just today, January 16th, 2022, when I was planning to edit a blog post and the images on the Blogger Dashboard were loading in an odd kind of way, like I couldn't see the images at first. And so, I am extremely afraid that I am not going to be able to "see" my blogs anymore—if I donate to these charities for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service—because I am being "warned" to not donate! Therefore, out of a sense of fearful caution, I am not going to donate just in case I am being threatened in some way... –Paul Whiting (written January 16th, 2022, revised July 18th, 2022, revised January 16th, 2023 and revised March 21st, 2023)
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My Writing About Finally Deciding That I Should Donate To Various Charitable Organizations For The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Of Service (for 2022—continued): I decided right before midnight on January 17th, 2022 to donate via Charity Navigator for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service to organizations that "defend civil rights, protect legal rights, and promote tolerance and understanding." You see, I was on Charity Navigator's website deleting the charities that I had previously selected for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service—as a way to 'volunteer financially' in order honor Dr. King's legacy of civic engagement—but I decided to not donate to those charities out of fear that my blogs would somehow be sabotaged! And the reason that I decided to not donate is due to that fact that I think that my blogs are being sabotaged by someone who is very 'tech savvy,' and they may be someone that I know, because I have noticed strange things happening while I have been editing my writing, including yesterday, January 16th, 2022, when I was planning to edit a blog post and the images on the Blogger Dashboard were loading in an odd kind of way, like I couldn't see the images at first. And so, I was extremely afraid that I was not going to be able to "see" my blogs anymore—if I donated to these charities that I had already selected for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service—because I was being "warned" to not donate! Therefore, out of a sense of fearful caution, I decided yesterday that I was not going to donate just in case I was being threatened in some way... Then, after I deleted the charities that I had previously selected, I noticed that the main webpage of Charity Navigator highlighted HOT TOPICS that "support nonprofits responding to current events and crises," including "Racial Justice & Civil Rights," so I decided to donate for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service from that list! Plus, I also included a donation to Charity Navigator, because they are a charity too. And I really appreciate being able to utilize Charity Navigator's charity rating system in order to assess which charities receive their 'give with confidence' rating. I also appreciate being able to donate to multiple charities at the same time—all in one convenient transaction, rather than having to process individual donations on each charity's website—which makes supporting civil rights organizations via Charity Navigator that much more worthwhile! –Paul Whiting (written January 17th, 2022 revised January 18th, 2022, revised March 25th, 2022, revised June 18th, 2022, revised July 18th, 2022, revised January 16th, 2023, revised March 21st, 2023 and revised January 15th, 2024)
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My Writing About The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Of Service (for 2023): For the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, which is yearly (annually) on the third Monday in January, I donated to organizations that "defend civil rights, protect legal rights, and promote tolerance and understanding" today, January 16th, 2023, via Charity Navigator. You see, I prefer to 'volunteer financially' for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service in order honor Dr. King's legacy of civic engagement. Plus, I also included a donation to Charity Navigator, because they are a charity too. And I really appreciate being able to utilize Charity Navigator's charity rating system in order to assess which charities receive their 'give with confidence' rating. I also appreciate being able to donate to multiple charities at the same time—all in one convenient transaction, rather than having to process individual donations on each charity's website—which makes supporting civil rights organizations via Charity Navigator that much more worthwhile! –Paul Whiting (written January 16th, 2023, revised March 21st, 2023 and revised January 15th, 2024)
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My Writing About The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Of Service (2024): In observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, which is yearly (annually) on the third Monday in January, I donated today, January 15th, 2024, to organizations that "defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." You see, I prefer to 'volunteer financially' for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service in order honor Dr. King's legacy of civic engagement. –Paul Whiting (January 15th, 2024)
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My Poetic Notes:
The reason that I wrote this poem can be summed up with the following statement: "...Someday, We Shall Overcome for Our Dr. King!"
By the way, the "Martin Luther King Jr. Day" is the same holiday as "Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service!" You see, for some reason I thought that the Saturday before "Martin Luther King Jr. Day" was the "Day of Service" and that it was a totally separate event from the "Day Observed," which is yearly (annually) on the third Monday in January. So, that is why I wrote a separate poem for "Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service," which is published on this blog. (Please see "A Day Of Service For Our Dr. King" in labels for the poem.)
Also, beginning in January 2013, I tried to create a post for virtually every holiday and special occasion of which I was aware, but I realized by September 2014 that I did not have enough time and energy to continue posting for every holiday and special occasion. And I decided to keep the poems in that series which were the most relevant to this blog, of which this is one.
And this poem was also published on my "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" blog (please see the hyperlink below for the blog), since I feel that the message in this poem applies to the message that I am trying to convey through "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer."
This poem was written in Portland, Oregon.
-Paulee
https://paulwhitingwriting.blogspot.com
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November 6th, 2024 Update No. 1 [My Writing About No Longer Being An 'Online Activist' In Any Way, Shape Or Form]: Due to Donald Trump winning the 2024 Presidential Election—and until further notice—I am no longer being an 'Online Activist' in any way, shape or form, which includes no longer signing petitions from political, social, environmental and charitable organizations, and no longer sending letters to my Representative and Senators in Congress, as well as no longer making donations to political, social, environmental and charitable causes. Full stop! I am also unsubscribing from any of the emails that I used to receive from political, social, environmental and charitable organizations. In fact, I am even cancelling all of my monthly political donations to the main Democratic fundraising and coordinating organizations, as well as to the USO (United Service Organizations), in addition to cancelling all of my monthly news organization subscriptions, or news organization donations, because I am absolutely terrified of this second Trump administration. And I fully expect that democracy in America as we know will be over! So, I am choosing to not engage in any 'activism' whatsoever—plus, I am not even sure that I will be exercising my 'civic duty' by voting in any upcoming elections because, as a (formerly) donating and a (potentially former) voting Democrat, I totally fear the retribution of President Donald J. Trump. Full stop! –Paul Whiting (written November 6th, 2024 and revised November 7th, 2024)
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This "Small All White in the Forest" Post No. 148 was edited on November 7th, 2024.
"Poetry is using the fewest words possible in order to describe all that is possible to describe." –Paul Whiting [June 1st, 2022]
My poems that are Haiku in their style—within which one stanza is composed of three lines, where each line has words containing five syllables, seven syllables and five syllables, respectively—are a lot more like Senryū poems in that the topic of these poems is typically about people, rather than the topic of these poems being about nature, as is usually the case in classic Haiku poems. And that is why I call these types of poems "Haiku-style." –Paul Whiting [September 19th, 2023]
