So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds,
but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it.
Lord, let your laughter ring forth.
Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats,
rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce.
~ Molly Ivins (1944 – 2007)
Just really missing ol’ Molly today. She’d show us the way through all the dumb and ugly raining down on us. She knew the cost of fear.
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This morning’s Denver Post had a front page article about the sharp increase in Colorado gun sales following Obama’s election. Here’s the link, but be warned: it’s a frightening trip into the psyche of small-minded, fear-based people.
Then this evening I started thinking about those who those who despaired at all the indecent and criminal actions of the past eight years but died before we turned this country around. Ann Richards and Kurt Vonnegut. Molly Ivins. They were all so very smart and laugh-out-loud funny. I started missing them all over again, and went looking for quotes.
I found this from the inimitable Molly Ivins:
I am not anti-gun. I’m pro-knife. Consider the merits of the knife. In the first place, you have to catch up with someone in order to stab him. A general substitution of knives for guns would promote physical fitness. We’d turn into a whole nation of great runners. Plus, knives don’t ricochet. And people are seldom killed while cleaning their knives.
I still miss her. But now I’m smiling despite the fact she’s left us and all sorts of idiots in my community are stocking up on assault rifles. How did she do that? Maybe it has something to do with this other Mollyism:
I still believe in Hope – mostly because there’s no such place as Fingers Crossed, Arkansas.
I’m crying. I can’t imagine slogging along through this lifetime without Molly Ivins making me laugh and think and try to be a better person. I was bottomed out after the 2004 election but she wrote a column about not giving up. She encouraged us to each go out and create a piece of beauty in the world. A little garden plot, perhaps. And that’s what I did that next spring, planting more flowers and adding colors and textures to my garden.
I’ve already posted this photo taken last summer. It was one of those magical summer days that will always be remembered. As my mate and I basked in the glory of all those flowers, I teared up remembering Molly’s suggestion. And I felt proud to have created my own little chunk of beauty.
This spring, and forever after, my garden will bloom in Molly’s honor.
Tracy Abell 