Last week I was told about the Civil Rights Exhibit happening at the High Museum. I knew it would be something that my older son would be interested in. He has always been interested in history and the stories of human struggles and achievement. Him and I have had some very in-depth conversations starting when he was as young as 4.

However my younger son is very different. He really lives in the moment and does not seemed to care much about history. However he does have a sensitive soul and when confronted with tragedies that do not make sense he has a real hard time with the concepts.

Today I decided to take both boys to the exhibit. We had breakfast first which gave me an opportunity to explain to my younger son what we were going to see. As we rode MARTA downtown I continuously questioned if this was the right thing to take them to or not.

On one hand it is an important part of history and the struggles and battles should be honored. On the other hand sometimes I feel when we spend so much energy remembering how wrong things once were we can slow down the progress to a better future. I often would prefer to say this is where we are today and where we can go instead of saying look at who we once were.

When we got to the exhibit I read a few things to my younger son, but for the most part just stayed close ready to answer any questions he had. I found the hardest question to answer was to explain what a photo negative was. There was a display of a negative of photos that had been taken and my son could not understand what a negative was or how pictures were taken before digital cameras. Overall the exhibit did not seem to confuse him.

I stood there with pride. As I was in the photo gallery I thought about the fight, the strength and the accomplishments of the people of the time. I stood there with pride knowing not long ago black people did not have a right to vote and we may (hopefully) will have our first black president. I stood there with pride as each picture explained that it was a photo that showed America what was happening. That each photo that appeared in Newspapers across America forced people to face the realities of the country they lived in, each picture struck a cord in many hearts and changed a country. The change was drastic. In the next room was an exhibit of life after 1968 and the pop culture of the time.

Yesterday I was at a meeting presenting social media as a way for an organization to make a difference. One person in the room understood that social media enabled people to connect and communicate, but he did not understand how social media could make a government representative change their vote. As I looked at the pictures and the activism displayed at the Museum I understood even better how broadcast messages and the gathering of passionate people could indeed move an entire nation.

In the end I was very happy that I took both boys to the museum. Not only did we get to learn more about our past but we got to see how much positive change is possible in our future.