Lots of family health issues, and now John Lewis announces that he has stage IV pancreatic cancer.
My recollection was that one of my first votes ever was for John Lewis. Certainly I voted for him in 1986, I just don't know if I voted for him in '84. There are many overuses of the word "hero," but Lewis undoubtedly qualifies. Someone mentioned that Lewis marched with Martin Luther King. More often than not, though, King marched with Lewis. He was at the cutting edge of SNCC, but also was able to bridge the divide with SCLC in ways that other members of SNCC never could.
I would hope that the advances in treatment give him a chance, but the reality is all of us face that day when there are no more days left. And we face many, many more days when people we admire face that last day. That day will come for Lewis and so many other eventually.
There is a line at the American cemetery in Normandy: Think not only on their passing; remember the glory of their spirit.
Seems apt.
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