All that said, Dr. King is a hero of mine and I'm proud to be able to tell others that I was there, even as an infant. I credit my parents with making a choice that defied conventional wisdom among white Georgians, and even their own families: To raise my brother and me with the belief that the difference between a person with white skin and skin of another color is only that one thing.
When you consider all of the lessons young parents might teach their kids it's remarkable how such a small thing can create such an enormous difference in how one perceives the world. It means that the kid is raised with a presumption of equality and respect rather than inequality and anger. It lays the basis for competition in a meritocracy instead of privilege. It teaches that the Golden Rule is a universal mandate.
Most importantly it plants the seed for an understanding that the reason we're here is to make the world better, and the way to do that is by showing one another kindness and compassion. The only way.
In the past few years I've found myself compelled to study Dr. King's speeches and writings as part of my own journey. As an erstwhile writer and lover of words I appreciate him as a brilliant wordsmith. More importantly though, his words and actions echo those of other sages and saints, like Ghandi, the Dalai Lama, and many others. From them I've learned how difficult, but critical, it is to break the cycle of anger by refusing to retaliate when attacked; that service is the highest calling; that achievements are never earned alone and must be accompanied by humility; the importance of perseverance through hardship; and how a powerful idea can become an unstoppable wave of action when driven by single-minded focus on what is right.
Most fundamentally, though, Dr. King taught me, through my parents' choice, that we all want the same thing - to be happy. Understanding that there is no difference has made all the difference.
A few favorite quotes:
Hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear; only love can do that. Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Strength to Love, 1963.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil--hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Strength to Love, 1963.
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, Dec 10 1964.
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
Martin Luther King Jr.
I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Speech in Detroit, June 23, 1963.
And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land. So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Speech in Memphis, April 3, 1968, the day before King was assassinated.
The time is always right to do what is right.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Speech at Oberlin College, 1964.
Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve....You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed - we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
I Have a Dream speech, Civil Rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28 1963.
This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!"
Martin Luther King, Jr.
I Have a Dream speech, Civil Rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28 1963.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
I Have a Dream speech, Civil Rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28 1963.
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Strength to Love, 1963.
All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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