For whites, it’s easy to write off the significance of today’s 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights March on Washington.
That’s because in our lifetimes, we have never been denied the right to vote.
For whites, the anniversary can seem “overblown.”
That’s because we have never been knocked over by  the forceful spray of a firehose, attacked by snarling dogs, or humiliated at a lunch counter or bus.
“Enough already,” we say of the blanket coverage by media of the Civil Rights movement.
That’s because on today’s streets, whites aren’t randomly pulled over by metropolitan police officers.
So yes, the Movement, by necessity, remains current, as does that for every minority.
That’s not to say progress has not been made.
In our lifetimes, blacks have won the same privileges of all Americans. No more separate drinking fountains, rest rooms, schools, or places to sit on a bus on in a restaurant. No more lynchings.
Seems barbaric, doesn’t it.

NOW SHOWING in a theater near you is the movie “The Butler.”
See it.
The storyline is of a black youth raised in the cotton fields who escapes slavery to work as a butler during eight presidential administrations over the course of 30 years at our nation’s White House.
The butler’s mantra is to see, hear and say no evil as he waits on his white “superiors.”
So when his son joins the Civil Rights Movement it’s to his father’s horror — mostly out of fear.
Spoil alert: There’s a lesson here for everyone.

IN A POLL by the Pew Research Center, the majority of blacks think Martin Luther King’s “Dream” remains an elusive goal.
Remember, the dream is that African Americans have a right to “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness,” just as much as anyone else.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Lofty talk for just wanting to walk down a street without the cops looking crosswise at you. Today’s jails and prisons incarcerate one of every 10 black men. For whites males, the ratio is one to 61.
Fair or not, the onus is on blacks to rise above racial stereotypes and social prejudices and prove they can graduate from high school and college at the same rate as other ethnicities. That they can wait until marriage to have children and be two-parent families. And that they can hold down full-time jobs.
On the flip side, law enforcement officers and the prison system should examine their anti-discrimination policies and punish inside acts of racial bias.
And each us, in our quiet moments, need to reflect on King’s words, “Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last,” and feel the joy that came from so much pain.

— Susan Lynn

It’s a terrible foreign policy position: Please, keep fighting.
But that’s the position the United States is taking as Syrian rebels duke it out against President Bashar al-Assad’s military regime.
Today’s Syria has a president who poisons his people, fighting against terrorists with al-Qaida ties.
Either victor would be hostile to the United States once it solidified its power base.
On Wednesday, a chemical weapons attack in suburban Damascus left hundreds dead. Thousands remain injured from the toxic gases, strategically released in the pre-dawn hours before the day’s increasing heat would bring its dissipating winds.
Local hospitals were flooded with victims suffering the poisoning. Symptoms from exposure to the sarin gas included shortness of breath, suffocation, bronchial secretions, convulsions, nausea, vomiting and cardiac arrests.
Representatives from the United Nations are due this morning to investigate the attack that the Western world lays at the feet of Assad. It’s suspected to be the worst chemical weapons attack in 25 years.
The United States is still giving the rebels non-lethal aid. Night-vision goggles. Kevlar vests. Packaged meals. To date it has withheld guns, planes, armored tanks, munitions.
Some see this low-level aid as insufficient and downright damaging to the country’s reputation as a power broker.
No doubt.
And yet, our allies — equally disgusted with President Assad — are no more eager to retaliate with firepower, dragging their forces into war.
Yes, we may be losing our influence in the Mideast. That’s not surprising. None of our “victories” have stood the test of time or won us any friends. And as we ease our dependency on their oil, many Americans don’t see their internecine hostilities as our affair.
President Obama said  some time ago proof of chemical weapons would be the “red line” to draw the U.S. further into the war.
This is a time we’re willing to let him go back on his word.
— Susan Lynn

It seems every day of the year is set aside to recognize someone or something — so many they’re hard to keep track of, and a few that get a little frivolous.

Folks hereabouts should take note of Nov. 1, however, a day to recognize those who “go the extra mile” — more to the point, volunteers.

We have so many in Iola and Allen County who are doing this, that and whatever to make quality of life better, for themselves and for all of us.

A legion of men and women make sure that kids have opportunities to participate in just about every sport under the sun. Volunteers keep our churches and clubs meeting spiritual and social needs. Others ensure the Allen County Fair is an upscale event. The list goes on, and on.

Have a worthwhile project? Want to do something for the community? Put out the word and it’s a good bet people will line up to help. 

When there were questions about whether Farm-City Days would continue, a new crop of volunteers rolled up their sleeves, went to work and kept the fall festival perking along.

Look at what has transpired with the Charley Melvin event. Volunteers make it happen.

Volunteerism comes in a multitude of ways.

Some volunteers, such as those who worked diligently to make a recommendation for a new hospital, and their successors, the hospital trustees, pour themselves into a project for the long haul. Others show up to help one day with an event, such as Rotarians who turned our to make the first Neil Westervelt Memorial Rotary Car Show at this year’s fair a rousing success.

I’ve had the good fortune to know many of those who volunteer their time and talents, and it often amazes me how hard they work, and how much time they’re willing to commit. They do it because they are selfless and eager to help others.

It’s easy to join the crowd of volunteers. All you have to do is say, “yes.”

The reward is the satisfaction of knowing that you helped make something happen that brightened your life, as well as those of your friends and neighbors.

—Bob Johnson