I feel almost bereft of words and I’m in no position to write any kind of obituary for Chadwick Boseman. But I do have something to say and something to share.
2018 was a pretty crappy year in a long line of crappy years (and it’s still ongoing). But when I went to see Black Panther in February 2018, it changed my life. Black superheroes don’t get the kind of recognition and environment to flourish and be like White superheroes, at least not in cinema (seeing as not everyone reads comics). So when I saw not just a Black superhero but a Black environment in all its majesty and glory, I wept. I needed that. And Chadwick Boseman, along with the rest of the cast, gave me that joy and empowerment. For that, I am ever grateful.
For the second part of this post, I wanted to share something shared by Josh Gad on Twitter:
It reads:
CATCH THE RAIN
If you are in Los Angeles, you woke up this morning to the rare and peaceful sound of a steady precipitation. If you’re like me, maybe you looked at the week’s forecast and found that it’s supposed to ran for three straight days; not without breaks of sunlight and reprieves of moist gloom, but yeah it’s gonna be coming down like cats and dogs. Great. We’re stuck inside these damn quarantines beacuse of the Covid, and now we can’t even get no sun in Cali. Come on now!
But now that the rain has stopped and today’s storm has cleared, I urge you to go outside and take a DEEP breath. Notice how fresh the air is right now, after our skies have had a 3 week break from the usual relentless barage of fumes from bumper to bumper LA commuters, and now today’s rain has given the City of Angels a long overdo and much-needed shower. Inhale and exhale this moment, and thank God for the unique beauties and wonders of this day. We should take advantage of every moment we can to enjoy the simplicity of God’s creation, whether it be clear skies and sun or clouded with gloom. And hey, if the air is this clear right now, and it does rain tomorrow, I might even put jars and bins out and catch the rain. Throw that in the water filter and I have a water more alkaline than any bottle brand out there.
I hope he’s catching the rain right now.