The One About The MLK Day

The sentence read, "MLK was a good man."

Dave sez,

There were other sentences on Ethan's paper. "The Earth orbits the Sun", "January is the first month", "Sixteen oz equal one lb." and "How much do you weigh?" In the newcomers program, Justin and Ethan have had sentences that cover topics in class during that week. Sentences about different things they cover in class like the months of the year, the holidays, geography and astronomy. Of course there's always the wild card(s) - "Sixteen oz equal one lb." and "How much do you weigh?"

Now, I could hear that Ethan was having trouble. Like his brother, he has trouble with small, transitional words. The little words; "the" and "a". So, what they both would see and read aloud would be, "January is first month." My Grandma Sophie, from Norway, never lost her thick accent and pretty much talked the same way. So we fixed that first sentence. Instead of "January is first month." Ethan re-wrote it as "January is the first month." We worked on his pronunciation of "Jan-yoo-airy"; and then, "or-bit". I looked at "oz" and "lb" and he re-wrote that as "ounces" and "pound". We worked on rounding and softening his pronunciations, like "how" ("How now brown cow") and "How much do you weigh?"

And then, there was that sentence.

"MLK was a good man."

What's "MLK" Ethan?

MLK.

Yeah, but what is it?

I dunno.

Is "MLK" short for Martin Luther King, Ethan?

Yes.

Tell me about him, Ethan.

He vuhs a gut man. Ethan grinned. He giggled a little.

He was a "good man", huh? What made him a good man?

I dunno. Church?

Ethan, did Martin Luther King believe something very important? Like, say maybe President Abraham Lincoln, that all men are created equal?

Yeah.

This was such an opportunity.

I thought I would put in a way that Ethan and I could connect.

Ethan and I have some things in common. I am discovering that he is a comic book geek just like me! That's Christmas, Father's Day and my birthday! While he is not a Batman fan, he is a Green Lantern fan.

Green Lantern Alan Scott

Nope, not that one. That's the original, Golden-Age Green Lantern, Alan Scott. There is a legend that he may have been modeled on actor Alan Ladd. That may be just an urban myth, like Batman's supposed to be.

Green Lantern Hal Jordan

Nope, not him either. That's test pilot Hal Jordan. One of the greatest Green Lantern's ever. There's a legend that he is modeled after actor Paul Newman. He was played by Ryan Reynolds a few years ago in a film that could have been - and done - better.

Guy Gardner

Nope.

Kyle Rayner

Nope.

Green Lantern John Stewart

Ethan is a fan of John Stewart. Which is pretty cool, because so am I! I'm a fan of John Stewart

Not to be confused with Jon Stewart.

I gave Ethan a couple of my comics with John Stewart.

I pointed at Alan Scott and said, MLK - Martin Luther King, Jr. - believed that there was no difference between him - Alan Scott - and him - John Stewart. He believed that they would both be heroes.

There was a time when being a Dad seemed like a far-off dream. I've been living - and sometimes struggling with -  my dream for just a couple of years now. This is as new to me as it is to my boys. We're all in the newcomers program. Together.

Most importantly, I have a dream that my boys grow to become good men. That they stand on values and beliefs. That they stand on truth, honesty and hard work. I hope I can teach that example.



²⁶ So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

~ Galatians 3: 26 - 29