Drinking The Rainbow

When I was a child, I envied those who got to drink from the water fountains marked COLORED.

I was convinced that the water in those machines had to be special.

Why else would the water be COLORED?

I wanted to drink the rainbow along with the rest of the special people.

Finally, after pitching a walleyed fit in Leonard Brothers Department Store, my mother relented and let me stand in the COLORED water fountain line.

I just knew that the bemused smiles signaled that I was getting away with breaking some solemn adult rule...

and that would make drinking the rainbow even sweeter.

The line moved quickly, but not fast enough for me.


No rainbow.

No COLORED water.

Just water.


I was crushed.

What a cruel joke to play on a child!

Oh well. I supposed then that it made sense to divide people at drinking fountains according to their color...

It made the wait much shorter.

Boy, did I ever have a lot to learn about humanity!

Make a career of humanity -
and you will make a greater person of yourself,
a greater nation of your country,
and a finer world to live in.


Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
(1929-1968)


I still dream about drinking that rainbow.