Editorial

Editorial C. RON ALLEN PEDRO HEIZER MICHAEL DEMYAN

MICHAEL DEMYAN CHARLOTTE BEASLEY PAMALA WEINROTH

The Boca Raton Tribune

Founded January 15, 2010 DOUGLAS HEIZER, Publisher

Our Writers/Reporters and Columnists

SYNESIO LYRA ROBERT WEINROTH BRYANNA BASILLO

JAY VAN VECHTEN JESSICA DEL VECCHIO KENNY SPAHN Online Edition PEDRO HEIZER DINI HEIZER Business DOUGLAS HEIZER GABRIELA HEIZER

EDITORIAL

By C. Ron Allen

WW 2 Veteran: “Oh, how much time has changed”

When state transportation offi cials were building Interstate 95 through Boynton Beach in the 1970s, they bought property on top of a segregation-era burial ground.

William Barton, whose 6-year-old son, Alton, was buried there, was not about to let progress squeeze him out.

“We had to put our foot down,” William Barton, 99, a World War II veteran said at a luncheon honoring veterans recently. “A lot of people were buried there, and we were not going to let them disrespect those graves.”

State and city offi cials ironed out a plan that resulted in the interstate narrowly bypassing the graveyard. Shortly after, the city offi cially recognized the wooded area as Barton Cemetery, in honor of his wife, Mary Barton.

A driver in the U.S. Army, Barton shared vivid memories of fi ghting segregation and racism. He told how while returning home from recruit training at Camp Edwards in Massachusetts, he had to switch to the “colored coach” on the train at The Mason-Dixie line to comply with Maryland law. A similar episode occurred on the bus from West Palm Beach to Boynton Beach when the driver noticed a white serviceman sitting and chatting with Barton in the rear and demanded the white man move to the front.

The luncheon culminated a day of service where more than 100 volunteers braved the inclement weather to give a facelift to 10 homes in the Cherry Hill community, including some that were owned by veterans.

The Habitat for Humanity of South Palm Beach County Veterans Build service event brought smiles to the homeowners’ faces.

“My husband would be so happy, just seeing this now,” Eula Smith said as she opened her door and saw her completed lawn. “They did a beautiful job.”

Members of the local chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and KOP Mentoring Network adopted the home in the 300 block of Northwest 12th Avenue. They laid mulch around trees and did some other cosmetic work. They will return in two weeks to fi nish the sprucing up.

“Alpha Phi Alpha is proud to join Habitat for Humanity in helping honor these veterans,” said Demetrius Thomas, of the organization’s Omicron Upsilon Lambda chapter. “We are excited to be here. We just wished we could have done some painting today but because of the weather…. We will be back to fi nish it though.”

Much credit to Habitat for Humanity in believing that every veteran family deserves a decent place to call home. The Christian organization empowers veterans through home ownership opportunities, critical home repairs and camaraderie building events, such as Friday’s build.

Barton, who lives in the neighborhood and is a deacon in his church, told the audience how, as a young man, Boynton Beach police offi cers harassed him. On one occasion, he said, a patrolman ticketed him for speeding.

“He was drunk as a skunk, and he said I was speeding. I know darn well, I wasn’t speeding,” Barton told the audience. “I told him, ‘I’m getting tired of you bothering me. I wasn’t speeding.’”

The offi cer responded, “That’s what they all said,” Barton recalled.

Barton told his boss about the encounter. His boss, who was white, called the police chief A. C. “Boots” Carver to complain.

He elicited much laughter when he compared “back in my days” to today. For example, he said when a white woman asked to take a photo with him at the luncheon, he gladly agreed. Still, for a quick moment, he had fl ashback of the past.

“Times have surely changed,” he said, adding, “You better believe it.

“Back in my days, I could never be caught having dinner with a white woman. You remember Emmett Till? Can you imagine what would have happened to me then?”

The battered and bloated body of the 14-year-old Till was fi shed from the muddy waters of the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi. He was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered on August 28, 1955, for having whistled at a white woman.

What was most alarming and heartwarming to Barton was knowing that the offi cers from the Boynton Beach Police Department adopted one of the homes and spruced it up.

“It warms my heart to hear that,” he said. “Back in my days when the police came up here, it was to take people away, not to help them.

“I saw where we have a black chief now,” he added. “I never thought I would have ever seen that in my lifetime. Oh, how much time has changed.”

Never minimize the importance of small gestures, the power of supposedly insignifi cant things; most often these are the words that either make or break an opportunity, a friendship, or other experiences of greater import!

Learn to use your mouth effectively, with uplifting messages to people who, more than likely, need your input at the moment you utter your message to them, whether they are previously known to you or not. Live daily with a sense of timing, with a desire to do some good for others, and with the ability to say or do something whose impact can be the greatest, and the most positive.

Daily our paths cross other persons’ lives and it doesn’t take long for us to recognize that this individual is having a hard time, for reasons unknown, but very real to the one enduring it. Without meddling into anybody’s private concerns, you can measure your greeting, any further words you address, and even a conversation you may carry on with someone.

Not too long ago, I was at the lobby of a large hospital, waiting for the return of a relative who had gone to another fl oor for a medical consultation. Momentarily interrupting my reading, while I waited, I noticed a middle-aged woman shining the fl oors of that major lobby. She was going up and down, right and left, doing her job faithfully, while being noticed by no one.

But I was observing her and the good quality of her work. Thus, when she came

POSITIVE LIVING

By: Dr. Synesio Lyra

Little Things Count a Lot!

closer to where I was sitting, I smiled at her and simply said: “Because of your good work, this whole area is clean and shinny; many thanks for what you are doing for so many people!”

She smiled at me and whispered some thanks in her foreign accent, and proceeded on her work still carrying that smile. It was a very small, insignifi cant gesture on my part, but something I believe made a positive difference for her.

People like to be appreciated. Whatever the nature of their efforts, everyone should be thanked if and when such applause may be given another. This happens daily with restaurant ser vers, with super market cashiers, for store clerks who walk with us to an aisle or shelf helping us to fi nd some item, to people who provide us information when we seek it from them at a busy street anywhere. Multiple are the examples of how we can encourage others in gratitude for what they are doing for the public in general, or specifi cally for us!

Even when someone dealing with us in any context, who happens to appear not so friendly, or even manifests some irritation, we should still be courteous and kind, for we don’t know the anguish they may be facing, any pain they may be feeling, any bad news they may have received that very day. Our kind words and gestures, our positive posture and disposition can make an indelible difference for good in a life. It costs us nothing, but its effect defi nitely adds great signifi cance to another!