Tomorrow would have been Rosa Parks' 97th birthday. So this one's for you, Ms. Parks.

Thank you for your legacy and your bravery.

Did you have any idea what your simple act of civil disobedience would stir in the community of Montgomery, Ala.? Or were you just tired of being a second-class citizen? Could you have had any idea the icon you would become?

How many times had you moved once asked? How many times did you move after you felt it was an injustice? What an encouragement you are to all people who face injustice.

Did you know that in a few years you as a black woman would be able to vote? That you would be able to eat in the same establishment as a white person? Drink from the same water fountain?

Could you have known on that day more than 54 years ago that your world would change forever?

Have you ever wondered what your life would have been like if you had simply risen from your seat and graciously walked to the back of the bus?

Could you have known on that day that you refused to move to the back of the bus that the United States would elect its first black president more than 50 years later?

No, Ms. Parks, I don't suppose you knew what your simple act of civil disobedience would stir in the hearts and minds of those around you.

But that is what makes you so great.

You did it anyway, without knowing.

You lived long enough to see many fruits from your labor but died before seeing the inauguration of our first black president.

We are still growing in this area. Last year, a Louisiana couple was denied a marriage license because of their race. I know you, Ms. Parks, would not have been shocked at this in 1955, but in 2009? After all the strides the civil rights movement made?

I grew up in the deep South. My world was very black and white. If you weren't black, you were white.

My world changed drastically when we moved from Mississippi to Maryland. I discovered then that there were more than two races. This may seem strange coming from the daughter of a Honduran, but that was white in my book.

I still have family members who hold tight to their deep-seated prejudices. I pray every day for their eyes to open but until then no amount of discussion can change their minds. I am just so thankful that the scales were removed from my eyes and I was able to see people for who they truly are, not just their skin color.

So, Ms. Parks, I will continue to honor your memory and bravery and teach my children about courage in the face of tyranny. I now have the responsibility to raise my children with an awareness of our past, yet with celebration of our present.

Ms. Parks, while our world is far from perfect, your hard work has enabled so many who followed in your steps to break free from oppression and rise above bigotry and racism. May our generation do the same for those who follow us.

On Thursday, Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a city bus and sat with three other blacks in the fifth row, the first row that blacks could occupy. A few stops later, the front four rows were filled with whites, and one white man was left standing. According to law, blacks and whites could not occupy the same row, so the bus driver asked all four of the blacks seated in the fifth row to move. Three complied, but Parks refused. She was arrested. She went on to become a face for the civil-rights movement. She died Oct. 24, 2005, at the age of 92.

Judy Daniell is married with three children. She works part-time.

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