San Francisco Dreaming

There’s a park across from SFMoMA (the museum of modern art), Yerba Buena Gardens.

There are flowers and grassy places to sit and there are also buildings, and a lot of concrete and usually a lot of people. It’s noisy and bustling, the way it was designed to be.

I found it once, a long time ago, looking for a shortcut to my hotel. Walking through, I noticed this waterfall and a walkway leading underneath. It was hot, and I was hot so I took a detour, just to cool down.

At the first turn I saw a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. Then turning on the walkway I was behind the waterfall. On the back wall are glass panels etched with photo images and quotes from King. By the time I had walked the 20 feet, I had completely forgotten about the waterfall. I was taken somewhere else, into a dream.

There are twelve panels each with a quote and a photo. Some of the quotes are famous, some were new to me. The panels are glass and were impossible for me to photograph. I can’t help think that this was intentional. I was meant to read them, not to see them through the lens. I was meant to just be there. Each one took me further into the power of King’s words. In the dim light with the sound sight smell and feel of the waterfall in the background, I felt inspiration, sadness, anger, and mostly hope.

I have searched, fruitlessly, to find a collection of all the quotes online. I was able to find one inserted into a persons own story of a visit to the memorial. I wish I had the proper attribution for this quote. Maybe Vegas could help.

“We must rapidly begin to shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society.
When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights
are considered more important than people,
the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered."

I paused at each quote then deep in thought I turned to leave the memorial. Then, around the corner, I came upon this quote carved into the wall.

"No, No, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied
until justice rolls down like water and righteousness
like a mighty stream"

The first time I read it, years ago it made me cry. I always visit this memorial every time I am in San Francisco. And every time I turn that corner, I cry.

I am also transformed, if only for awhile, into someone who feels that the world can and will change. Everyone will be treated equally, everyone will be given the same rights, and no one will know blind prejudicial hatred.

Sometimes, I get a grasp on the dream.

- - - David