On Tuesday, 17 February, 2026 we lost Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, a giant in the U.S. Civil Rights movement and tireless warrior for social justice in every corner of the world.

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Over the next few days, there will be plenty of articles, social media posts, and pundits analysing his political and religious careers. All the accolades, adjectives, and honours bestowed upon him are a result of how he lived on his “dash”.

Every obituary has two dates, the birth date and the death date: we usually pay attention to those dates as a representation of their life. Unfortunately, we usually do not consider the “dash,” which is the punctuation between the two dates. The dash is the time spent on Earth and tells future generations how the deceased person spent it. When we see Harriett Tubman’s “dash” we think about her courage leading enslaved people to freedom; when we see Aretha Franklin’s “dash” we think about how her songs lifted us, President Eisenhower’s “dash” includes his Executive Order to integrate the U.S. Armed Forces and sending an all-black Women’s Army Corp (WAC) unit overseas to work on the mail backlog during WWII.

Many people will see Claudett Colvin’s “dash” and remember the 15-year-old black girl who refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus in Birmingham, Alabama. Her “dash” is linked to Rosa Parks’ “dash” and the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. When we see President Johnson’s “dash”, we think of his work to pass civil rights and voting rights legislation. When we see Catherine O'Hara’s “dash”, many people think of her as the mother in the first “Home Alone” Christmas Movie.

After we walk through the door that separates mortality from immortality, our “dash” will be placed between the birth and death dates. Reverend Jackson’s death give us time to push the “pause button” on the unapologetic lying, hatred, racism, xenophobia, unchecked power grabs that are trying to destroy our democracy and more importantly have caused the murder of 43 year-old Keith Porter who left two children behind, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, who left three children behind, and 37-year-old military veteran and intensive care nurse Alex Pretti. These three people have “killed by ICE agents” as part of their “dash”.

There is a gospel song entitled “May the Work I’ve Done Speak for Me.” A notable lyric from the song states, “When I am resting in my grave and have nothing else to say, may the work I’ve done speak for me.” If you’re reading this article, you are still creating your “dash”. When we’re gone, we cannot rewrite our “dash” - others will do that in the obituary, in history books, social media posts, news articles, and the oral history that will be told decades from now.

We must stop and ask ourselves, in these chaotic times, am I living courageously and resisting the evils plaguing our society, or am I a coward afraid to stand up to tyranny? Am I looking out for my neighbours who need food assistance, childcare so they can go to work, protecting our immigrant communities and insisting that the rule of law is actually “the rule” used by pseudo law enforcement individuals?

Am I living my life according to the principles of my faith? Am I ignoring the military families and veterans’ need for SNAP and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) dollars to help them feed their families, or am I someone who politicises these necessary programs and withholds help until my political agenda is accepted?

Am I investing some of my wealth to help those less fortunate, or am I more concerned about how to turn my accumulated millions into trillions of dollars? Is this the life I want on my “dash”? Is this something my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc., will be proud of, or will my “dash” make them struggle to defend my actions and be ashamed of my legacy?

In my role as Pastor, I have officiated several funerals and memorials. I remind those in attendance of this fact: You write your resume while you’re living; your life, words and actions will write your “dash” after you die.

Dr Pat Spearman served in the Nevada State Senate for 12 years and previously held the position of President Pro Tempore in the State Senate.

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