BAR ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010
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 In the Bleak Midwinter We Need Beacons and Valentines
Victoria M. Almeida, Esq.
President, Rhode Island Bar Association
“In the bleak midwinter frosty wind made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, in the bleak midwinter, long ago.” [1]
January and February, I believe, are the cruelest months of the year. The dark, almost sunless days bring out those emotions that are summed up in a song from the Broadway musical Mame in 1966: “For I’ve grown a little leaner, grown a little colder, grown a little sadder, grown a little older . . .” [2] Right about now, I need a beacon to light my way, to get me through the bleak midwinter, and I hope someone nice will send me a valentine.
I had the privilege to practice law with Judge Netti Vogel many years ago. I was very cheery then and things were just swell. Ah, youth! Judge Vogel nicknamed me “Doris Day” [3]and usually called me Doris. What can I say? Que sera, sera! So, I decided I would try to think of something uplifting and life-giving to get you and me through the bleak midwinter – a beacon to light our way and to keep us awake and open to work that remains to be done during a season when it is tempting to slip into a pattern of indifference until the light returns and the thaw begins.
Then I realized that January allows us to remember and commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King stands as a courageous beacon to light our way, to keep us awake during these times of peril for so many.
Most of us are familiar with Dr. King’s I Have a Dream speech or Letter from Birmingham Jail. But, perhaps his best, but less known, speech is the light we need right about now. It is The World House Essay, which originated with Dr. King’s Nobel Peace Prize Lecture delivered at the University of Oslo on December 11, 1964.
Dr. King continues to call us today to love, not in the Valentine sentiment, but in a genuinely selfless, compassionate and just way that transcends race, tribe, class, religion and social economic barriers. A vision to embrace, World House is an effort to rid the world of the three intrinsic evils known to humankind – poverty, racism and militarism. He stated:
Save the soul of America with the ammunition of love. Non violence is the answer. Anti social behavior is not the way. Resolve problems without violence. Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. The deep rumbling of discontent that we hear today is the thunder of disinherited masses determined to end the exploitation of their races and lands. One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. But today our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to face the challenge of change. The large house in which we live demands that we transform this worldwide neighborhood into a worldwide brotherhood. Together we must learn to live as brothers and sisters, or together we will be forced to perish as fools.
Every man lives in two realms, the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms and instrumentalities by means of which we live. Our problem today is we have allowed the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live. When scientific power outruns moral power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men. Without spiritual and moral reawakening, we shall destroy ourselves in the misuse of our own instruments.
Dr. King also said that “the ultimate measure of a person is not where he/she stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he/she stands at times of challenges and controversy.” Dr. King concluded that: “Man’s inhumanity to man is not only perpetrated by the vitriolic actions of these who lead. It is also perpetrated by the vitiating inaction of those who are good.” (emphasis added)
I hope the words of Dr. King reawaken your spirit and energy during the bleak midwinter and as we begin a new decade. Dr. King’s words continue to stoke the embers of hope and keep the flames of justice alive calling us from the despair of winter into the spring of promise and greater justice for all. So, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. I feel warmer, cheerier and called to action thanks to Dr. King.
Finally, of course, I remembered to send you a Valentine wish. It is my version of a poem recited by the Irish Ambassador to President and Mrs. Kennedy soon after the birth of their son, John, fifty years ago.
I wish for you,
A heart that can be beguiled,
By a flower,
That the wind lifts,
As it passes.
If the storms break for you,
May the trees shake for you,
Their blossoms down.
In the night that you are troubled,
May a friend wake for you.
So that your time be doubled,
And at the end of all loving and love
May you be given a crown.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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