Inside my head so often are the anxieties and pressures of working tirelessly (actually, often very tired) to build a public relations business – the pressures of marketing and pursuing contracts, taking care of employees, hiring new employees, meeting client needs, etc. – that I forget my blessings. It’s too easy to do, because owning a small business always feels, even on the best days, at least a bit precarious. Today, I’m reminded.

Today is the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson taking the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers. I can thank him for many of my blessings. In part, I can thank him for three: one 18-year-old son and 13-year-old twins, a boy and a girl. I could not have safely and happily married their mother were it not for what Jackie Robinson started, because he started America’s look in the mirror on race relations, a look that required Rosa Parks, Emmett Till, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others to make the reflection so painful it forced change. I would not be the father to the three children God blessed me with.

Most Americans today take Jackie Robinson for granted. They need to read Jackie Robinson by Arnold Rampersad, probably the best biography of the man. One of my proudest possessions is a Jackie Robinson autographed baseball from his playing days (at least I’m 95% sure it’s his autograph and, if you know anything about sports memorabilia, that’s pretty good).

And some of the proudest things in my life – I’ve got to look back and thank Jackie.

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