Searched for, and found, moments of awe and inspiration in Oklahoma!

March 24, 2018

Yes, friends who just did a double take upon seeing that title, you read it correctly. There’s not much, if any, good news coming out of Oklahoma. My social media feeds are littered with posts about Oklahoma’s failing economy and failing education system. An August 29, 2017 article in The Guardian by Russell Cobb entitled “Oklahoma isn’t working. Can anyone fix this failing state?” describes how Oklahoma leads the country in cuts to education, where entry-level employees with a high school diploma at the convenience store, QuikTrip make more money than teachers in Oklahoma. Just this week, Oklahoma’s low teacher pay was covered on the first page of the New York Times.

In the Fall of 2017, the top official and a senior deputy at the Oklahoma State Department of Health (where I spent 25 years of my career) resigned amid findings that the agency overspent and mismanaged millions of dollars for years, which has resulted in furloughs, program cuts, and layoffs of many hard-working employees.

I don’t want to be in Oklahoma. With the exception of a few summer trips to our cabin in northeastern Oklahoma and family gatherings and holidays, I try to avoid crossing the Red River. So, it may come as a surprise to some of my friends to see the title of this blog post. But, a few days following the school shootings at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, (and before his self-imposed “Facebook cleanse”), my friend Joe Mallonee posted that he and his wife, Sue, would be marching with students for the March for our Lives in Oklahoma City, and invited others to join them.

A few weeks later when Sue and I were in Colorado, I mentioned to her that I might join them. She didn’t ask me why I would travel to Oklahoma to march instead of participating in the March in Dallas, a city I love. Sue understood something I learned after I participated in the Women’s March in Dallas in January 2017.

I had planned to be in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2017. I had airline tickets for my daughter and me that I had purchased when it looked like our country was going to elect its first female President. When that didn’t happen, my best friend invited us to keep our tickets and come to DC to march in the Women’s March that was planned for January 21. Normally, a chance to spend time with my best friend, under any circumstances, would have generated some excitement for me. But, I was in a serious state of depression at that time, and it was not subsiding. In late December 2016, I called my friend and told her I wouldn’t be traveling to DC for the 2017 Women’s March. I was just too depressed.

I didn’t learn about the Dallas Women’s March until two days prior to the March. When I awoke on January 21, 2017, it just felt wrong to pull up the covers and stay in bed. So I got out of bed, showered, and walked the eight blocks to Dallas City Hall, where the Dallas Women’s March was scheduled to begin. Something magical happened that day. Thousands and thousands of people descended on Dallas City Hall. A kaleidoscope of individuals and families – black, white, brown, red, yellow, Christian, Muslim, Jew, men, women, young, old, middle-aged, homosexual, heterosexual, healthy, differently impaired, etc., etc., etc.! The easy thing for me to do that day would have been to travel to DC and cocoon with my best friend and other friends. Instead I stayed in Dallas. I have loved Dallas since the first day I became a resident here, but for the weeks and months following the 2016 election, I felt uncomfortable in Middle America. However, on January 21, 2017, I was right where I needed to be. I needed to know that more people than not are kind, caring and loving, even in Middle America.

There may come a time when I have to move back to Oklahoma. When that day arrives, I need to know that there are still caring, empathetic people who reside there. So today, dressed in my “Times Up” t-shirt and armed with my camera, I drove to the Oklahoma State Capitol. Along with my friends and my daughter, I joined thousands of others (yes, thousands even in Oklahoma City) marching for sensible reform in hopes of reducing gun violence anywhere and everywhere. I found the awe and inspiration I was searching for today. I saw it on the news reports from the DC March for Our Lives as I watched the speeches by Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Cameron Kasky, and others. I heard it as I listened to students who spoke in Oklahoma City.

When you search for awe and inspiration, you often find it. Today, I found it in Oklahoma and on the news. I’m feeling hopeful.