| Today the Miami Herald ran their annual pro and | | | | the weekly church bulletin and the monthly |
| college football special edition. It was an amazing thing | | | | newsletter-- something that required many late hours |
| to see and hold-- it could easily replace light dumbbells | | | | at home on a manual typewriter. Since this was long |
| for a workout. It had 6 sections, 74-pages with full | | | | before the computer age, frequent last minute |
| color/full depth covers of serious, stoic players. Only | | | | changes meant using lots of Wite-Out and laborius |
| one guy was frowning this time-- probably because | | | | retyping into the wee hours of the morning to |
| he was a college player and wasn't getting paid | | | | prepare the "mimeograph" stencil for printing. Yet, her |
| copious amounts of money yet. Daunte Culpepper, | | | | son never heard her complain. She was always |
| the new Dolphins quaterback was almost smiling | | | | cheerful right up to the end when a heart attack |
| which is understandable since he has a lot on his mind | | | | finally killed her through the side effects of muscle |
| right now considering the still questionable strength of | | | | atrophy brought on by the stress of living for |
| the repair to his devastating knee injury (something | | | | 25-years with useless legs.In all deepest sincerity, |
| local TV still likes to show over and over again and | | | | MVB presents the first "Thelma" award to David and |
| something we still can't watch). Now don't get us | | | | Sherrone Jenkins, parents of their slain 9-year-old |
| wrong, the staff at MVB loves football. We believe it | | | | daughter Sherdavia. Cut down on July 1st in a |
| is the nearly perfect game that combines suspense, | | | | shootout between thugs in a Liberty Square public |
| action, brute strength and violence with athleticism | | | | housing complex, Sherdavia, a bright-eyed chess |
| and balletic beauty. But that doesn't mean we aren't | | | | champion and a student who aced her FCAT test, |
| tired of seeing athletes made into heroes. It is our | | | | was destined for greatness. How her parents were |
| contention that our community should also allocate | | | | able to continue on continuing on was an amazing |
| time and media space for the unsung heroes, the | | | | thing to see as the media covered the story. Living in |
| ones "who live lives of quiet desperation," who get | | | | the projects is a day-to-day struggle. Keeping a |
| up every morning to go to work to make ends | | | | family together compounds the difficulty. We learned |
| meet, who struggle to keep a family together | | | | that the Jenkinses were able to do this and more by |
| despite working for minimum wage. ABC News | | | | guiding their children by example. We remember |
| recognizes the worthy in their Friday "Person of the | | | | reading that Mr. Jenkins, a security guard, first heard |
| Week." The Miami Herald and local TV could do the | | | | about the shooting at work. Not having a car, he had |
| same. These kind of awards and recognition are not | | | | to walk and take busses back home. In the |
| only good for the spirits of those being honored, | | | | one-and-a-half hours it took him to get home all he |
| they're good for us too because they remind us, if | | | | could think about was what he might find there. In |
| nothing else, that someone a lot like us-- maybe | | | | the aftermath and under the media spotlight the |
| even someone who is worse off than we are-- can | | | | parents showed uncommon composure and Mr. |
| make the effort to not only keep on keeping on but | | | | Jenkins in particular humbled us all with his |
| takes it a step further by giving something back to | | | | off-the-cuff eloquence. Since that time through the |
| the community.With that in mind, we would like to | | | | "kindness of strangers" and Mr. Jenkins' boyhood |
| bring recognition to those in our community who | | | | friend, U.S Rep. Kendrick Meek, the family has gotten |
| really deserve it. We can't gurantee an award each | | | | a second chance at having a happy and fulfilling life: |
| week but when we are reminded by one or more | | | | they now have a home of their own, a duplex with a |
| people who continue to "put up the good fight," you | | | | lawn and trees and a front porch far from the |
| can bet they will be recognized with a "Thelma | | | | projects. Now, only time and their faith and the |
| Award." Named in honor of the mother of one of our | | | | effort they put in every day to get out of bed and |
| staffers, this remarkable woman recieved her | | | | get along will help them distance themselves from |
| recognition in the late fifties when the Miami News | | | | what once was to what can be.The Miami Herald has |
| (the long gone but not forgotten afternoon paper) | | | | created a commendable multi-media site that includes |
| ran a pictorial on her. Readers discovered that she | | | | a timeline of articles with still photos, video, and |
| had given birth to two boys. The second one died at | | | | music. It is quite moving. To see it, please click |
| 17-months in her arms from complications due to | | | | here.Except in terms of reaching a larger number of |
| cerebral palsy. Less than a year later she caught the | | | | viewers, the "Thelma" award is not so different from |
| polio virus and was never able to walk again without | | | | the ABC News "Person of the Week." It comes with |
| braces and crutches. Her husband died when our | | | | no financial honorarium but in a case like this, an |
| staffer was only 14-years-old. Without a car and | | | | award as such is little more than meaningless |
| "depending on the kindness of strangers," life got | | | | self-referential hubris on our part without attaching |
| tough. Still, her son reports that she never complained | | | | money to help the family along. So, if you want to |
| and was in fact cheerful throughout her life. Despite | | | | extend a helping hand to this deserving family, please |
| her handicap, she was for years the neighborhood | | | | join us by writing checks out to David and Sherrone |
| organizer for the March of Dimes and Muscular | | | | Jenkins, C/O Audra D.S. Burch, South Correspondent, |
| Dystrophy where she made sure volunteers went | | | | Miami Herald, One Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33132. |
| door-to-door soliciting money to fight those diseases. | | | | Please enclose the check and any personal |
| Despite all the bad deals life handed out to her, she | | | | correspondence to the parents in a separate |
| still managed to not only hang onto her faith, but | | | | envelope so that it can be given to the family |
| gave large amounts of her time to her church as its | | | | unopened.D.C. Copeland is a writer and award-winning |
| kindergarten secretary where she earned a small | | | | artist. When visiting Copeland's personal website and |
| salary that was able to keep food on the table and a | | | | blog you will discover that Wayne Cochran is the |
| roof over their heads. The church got the best part | | | | Patron Saint and that many people consider it to be |
| of the deal because Thelma would volunteer to write | | | | "The Rodney Dangerfield of Blogs. |