“Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong.
The amount of work is the same.” ~ Carlos Castaneda
In 1833 Lexington suffered a great cholera epidemic. Of the city’s 6,000 residents, over 500 died in just two months, many of them within hours of contracting the infectious disease. Back then no one knew what caused cholera or how to cure it. No one understood why some in a single household would die while others lived. People were terrified of everything around them including each other. Half the city fled to the countryside most especially the wealthy. There was a town drunk named William Solomon. He eked out a living digging cisterns, privies, ditches, and sometimes graves. But when the epidemic hit, the city’s gravediggers fled with everyone else. But not Solomon. He stayed, as did Aunt Charlotte, a freed slave who made a living selling pies. Her friendship with Solomon went back to their time in Virginia, and it was unbreakable. At one point, before the epidemic, Solomon was such a nuisance to the city that they sold him as a slave. Aunt Charlotte bought him for eighteen cents, then set him free. What a remarkable story! Not only did a former slave buy a slave, she bought a white slave in William Solomon (white slaves are usually referred to as indentured servants). When the epidemic hit she begged Solomon to leave the city with her. When he refused, she, too, stayed in Lexington. You can read more about them on the Notable Kentucky African Americans database, the brainchild of BFF Reinette Jones. Aunt Charlotte helped feed the people that remained in the city while Solomon alone buried every person that died of the disease. They say he worked day and night, even sleeping in the cemetery. When the danger had passed, a city previously miffed at the drunkard instead declared him a hero, nicknaming him “King” Solomon. His hard work didn’t keep him from dying in the Poor House years later, but the city did bury him in Lexington Cemetery and erect a generous tombstone in his honor. Naturally, they didn’t do the same for Aunt Charlotte. When I was at Lexington Cemetery with Wendy and Stacy last Sunday I happened upon King Solomon’s grave by accident. It served to remind me that we all have important parts to play in this life. We should not discount someone’s worth because they don’t fit into our ideal of decent or law-abiding. There’s a reason Jesus hung out with the drunks and the prostitutes. This was a teaching moment.
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