Remembering those who didn't live to see this day

I wish Dana had lived to see the day when a black man was inaugurated President of the United States.
Dana Mattison was my debate partner in high school. We were picking up a mantle left to us by brilliant debaters and state award winners at Frankfort High School. Dana and I made a full day of speech competitions. We debated, we entered the Dramatic Interpretation and Spontaneous categories in speech contests all over the state. Dana did a magnificent rendition of James Weldon Johnson's "The Creation". I did a heart-rending adaptation of Dale Evans Rogers' "Angel Unaware". In Spontaneous competition, we would get a topic, have 5 minutes to organize our thoughts and 5 minutes to speak. He was my best male friend. He was black.
Between the two of us, the color difference was never a problem. Dana knew I was a passionate advocate of equality for everyone. Racial equality was often the topic of debates and spontaneous speech challenges. The tumultous years of 1964 - 1968 provided a fascinating backdrop to our friendship...and, eventually those events would end the friendship we had enjoyed. In his understandable despair and anger over the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April of 1968, Dana said he could no longer be close friends with a white person. I was devastated about Dr. King's assassination, too. Even though I understood that Dana had to process the tragedy in his own way, losing the friendship was a real blow to me...just a month before our graduation.
We each went to different colleges. As time went by, his gifts led him to become a very successful businessman in corporate America. My call led me to become a pastor of a black church in Mississippi Delta. I was learning about the lives of black people in a new way and I thought about Dana often. Since neither Dana nor I lived in our hometown (or even our home state) we kept in touch through occasional contacts my attorney brother had with each of us. Those exchanges let each of us know that we were proud of each other in the interesting ways life had unfolded.
And, literally, the next thing I knew, Dana had died. He was only in his 40's. Pancreatic cancer. (Which was very much on my own mind when I was diagnosed with a pancreatic tumor in May of 2007). I didn't get to say goodbye.
Dana and I spent hours studying, debating and speaking up for a future like the one that is actually unfolding in our world today. This is a day we couldn't have dreamed of when we were teenagers. This is an event that we didn't believe could happen no matter how articulate and persuasive our arguments. I am sorry Dana didn't live to see this day. But the memory of his vibrant passion for justice lives in my heart as I watch this historic inauguration. His life helped me understand how much this means. I will celebrate this momentous event with his memory in my heart.