Thoughts While Driving

I went for a drive along the winding country roads of Virginia today. I was surprised at what I saw. The ghosts of American heroes lingered everywhere I went. Underneath a bright blue sky I saw slaves working the fields. Dust caught in a slight breeze rose up from the parched earth and flew almost gracefully above them. Dressed in rags hands calloused the sun had turned their dark brown backs closer to a light shade of black. In their eyes I could see pain I could feel the anguish in their forced tired movements as their taskmasters screamed at them but beneath all that plain to see a sense of hope rested in the arms of the unbreakable tenacity of their spirit. I looked away from them averting my eyes back to the winding road for a second And when I looked back they were gone the screams of the taskmasters were replaced by the loud roar of a big green tractor. Before the road banked to the right into the woods and away from the cotton field I caught a glimpse of the guy in the air conditioned cab of the John Deere singing along to the radio and beyond that for just an instant In the shade where the field ended and the forest began I saw a little black boy dressed in his rags peering back at me