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I'm sure I'm just one of many who today are reaching to the lyrics of James Taylor's song for a way to pay tribute to Dr King.
He was not a perfect man; for what human is perfect? He shared some of the failings that are common to us all.
But notable among the gifts that did not fail were courage, a gift of speech, and a profound moral compass.
That he was courageous does not mean he did not know fear. Bravery is not the absence of fear but the willingness to look fear in the eye and step forward, to speak up, knowing what the result may be.
The ability to use words, written or spoken, so as to move people deeply, is a remarkable talent, but it can be used for good or ill, especially since the advent of media that can reach nations simultaneously, that can broadcast a message to the entire world. But I have yet to see or hear an occasion when Dr King used his incredible talent and hard-won skill to any evil end.
Knowing right from wrong, wanting to see justice rule tempered with mercy--many may own or aspire to these standards of morality, but unless one does something to put this knowledge into practice, to effectuate this desire, how can they be said to have value?
Dr King combined a keen sense of right and wrong, a loving heart for his fellow creatures, with his ability to move them with words and his lion-like courage. He spoke out for the rights of those who were oppressed; he told a nation things about its injustices to its citizens that it did not want to hear; he put himself in harms way repeatedly in order to illustrate the cruelties and wrongs that existed and, by doing so, forcing them to change.
Dr King died only a few years after I was born. I never saw him or heard him speak except on recordings. But what he and his generation of righteous men and women did changed the world as profoundly and permanently as what my parents' generation did in defeating fascism, perhaps even more. He was not alone in seeking justice. He was not alone in speaking truth to power. He was not alone in sacrificing much, and eventually all he had, so that others might live in a different world, a better world. So it is not of him alone that I am thinking when I say
Let us turn our thoughts today
To Martin Luther King.
And recognize that there are ties between us,
All men and women
Living on the earth:
Ties of hope and love,
Sister and brotherhood;
That we are bound together
In our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children
Can grow free and strong.
We are bound together
By the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead
We are bound, and we are bound.
---James Taylor, Shine A Little Light
He was not a perfect man; for what human is perfect? He shared some of the failings that are common to us all.
But notable among the gifts that did not fail were courage, a gift of speech, and a profound moral compass.
That he was courageous does not mean he did not know fear. Bravery is not the absence of fear but the willingness to look fear in the eye and step forward, to speak up, knowing what the result may be.
The ability to use words, written or spoken, so as to move people deeply, is a remarkable talent, but it can be used for good or ill, especially since the advent of media that can reach nations simultaneously, that can broadcast a message to the entire world. But I have yet to see or hear an occasion when Dr King used his incredible talent and hard-won skill to any evil end.
Knowing right from wrong, wanting to see justice rule tempered with mercy--many may own or aspire to these standards of morality, but unless one does something to put this knowledge into practice, to effectuate this desire, how can they be said to have value?
Dr King combined a keen sense of right and wrong, a loving heart for his fellow creatures, with his ability to move them with words and his lion-like courage. He spoke out for the rights of those who were oppressed; he told a nation things about its injustices to its citizens that it did not want to hear; he put himself in harms way repeatedly in order to illustrate the cruelties and wrongs that existed and, by doing so, forcing them to change.
Dr King died only a few years after I was born. I never saw him or heard him speak except on recordings. But what he and his generation of righteous men and women did changed the world as profoundly and permanently as what my parents' generation did in defeating fascism, perhaps even more. He was not alone in seeking justice. He was not alone in speaking truth to power. He was not alone in sacrificing much, and eventually all he had, so that others might live in a different world, a better world. So it is not of him alone that I am thinking when I say
Let us turn our thoughts today
To Martin Luther King.
And recognize that there are ties between us,
All men and women
Living on the earth:
Ties of hope and love,
Sister and brotherhood;
That we are bound together
In our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children
Can grow free and strong.
We are bound together
By the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead
We are bound, and we are bound.
---James Taylor, Shine A Little Light
