Memphis: Day 2

Today, we visited the National Civil Rights Museum. Museums allow the old to remember and the young to learn. We celebrate out great triumphs and mourn our great wrongs. Most importantly though, museums allow us to integrate our past into our future.

I cannot count the number of times that I or one of my friends pointed out an evil that should be changed, yet failed to do anything about it. More than once it has been said among my friends that college students have no power and cannot truly change anything. Personally, I feel helpless in the face of adversity; I wish to change problems I see around me, but believe I cannot. The biggest problem that I face though, and perhaps others do as well, is that I allow my feelings of helplessness to turn into feelings of apathy. I allow myself to do nothing because I believe that nothing will come of it.

After leaving the NCRM though, I felt empowered. Seeing photographs and videos of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee combating racism and tyranny and sacrificing their own livelihood for a cause greater than themselves, I felt great hope that I and other college students can be the cause of change in America and abroad. With this said, I am not disillusioned to the fact that the students working with SNCC worked tirelessly for countless years, yet enjoyed many more failures than successes. Progress was slow and change only occurred through the collective will and blood of thousands. I am only one person, and at times, do not have the will to leave the couch to turn the channel of my TV, but still, I left the NCRM believing that I can be and should be part of changes that need to occur in our country today.

I cannot wait to go to Oxford tomorrow.