Monday, January 19, 2009

MLK

Today our nation celebrates one of the great Americans, Martin Luther King, Jr.

More than 40 years ago, he stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial and gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. I know the context of this speech was social change in the racially-charged 1960s, but as I was reading it today, one part spoke to me of all the issues facing our country now--the tough economic climate, the ongoing war, and of course the gap we still have to close to truly achieve equality for all our citizens.

"And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream."

Happy Birthday, Dr. King. It may take us a while longer, but we'll get there.

4 comments:

Lori said...

Amen. We need to stop worrying about heritage, religious choice, and political leaning if we ever expect to get out of this economic hole we're in. Don't you just want to shake those people who continue the nonsense and shout, "Grow up!"?

Angie Ledbetter said...

King is a personal hero. What bravery and substance.

Kathryn Magendie said...

Last night I was watching a clip of MLK and beside him was this cop and when the crowd cheered, he had such a smile on his face - I think that smile surprised me - for different reasons, although it should not have....but, I thought he'd remain stern and straight - but there was that smile, that sudden smile....

Amie said...

Kathryn, those little smiles are the dream becoming reality, one person at a time!

Lori and Angie, I listened to an old podcast of This American Life the other day about "bad apples" and their effect on group mentality. A study proved that while one bad apple can indeed spoil the bunch, all it takes is one person to ask questions and care about everybody's opinion to change the dynamic of the group. Here's to the good apples!