Everything's Coming Up Rosa

So cool...	they wrote a song about her

When I was growing up, sitting in the back of the bus was cool, (unless of course you were in high school, when not sitting on the bus at all was cool). However, in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, the adult equivalent of the cool kid seats was located in the front of the bus, and not the back. One black woman, having secured one of the middle section seats, (not as coveted as a front seat, but better than the rear), was asked, along for with three other blacks, to move to the back to make room for a single white man. Rather than standing up for the man waiting to take her seat, she stood up for herself by not standing up at all. Her name was Rosa Parks.

Some mistakenly believe that she only didn't move because she was too weary to do so. However, As Ms. Parks stated in her autobiography:

People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

Rosa Parks' actions helped start a chain of events that would eventually eradicate segregationist laws and improve civil rights in America. Her willingness to stand up for herself and her determination to do what she thought was right are qualities that many people either don't show very often or don't posses at all. Her strength of character is something I truly admire, and for that, she has earned the distinction of being W.O.R.D of the week.

When I rode the bus, I thought the cool place to sit was in the back. Rosa Parks showed America that the best place to sit was not the back. It was not the front. It was not the middle. The best place to sit was: anywhere she wanted. That was her right. That was every American’s right. And for that, I’d say she’s pretty darn cool.