Friday, April 4, 2008

Living the Dream

Another anniversary to mark, another life to celebrate, another loss to mourn.

Today is the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. There is no better tribute to the man than to present his own words.

"I submit to you that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live." - June 23, 1963, Detroit.

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. ... Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." - 1967, Where Do We Go from Here : Chaos or Community?.

"Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus." - March 31, 1968, Washington, D.C.

"I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good." - as quoted by Jeffrey Alexander in 2006.

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - 1963, Strength to Love.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." - 1963, Strength to Love.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - 1963, "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."

"I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends." - 1963, "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."

"When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village 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!'" - August 28, 1963, "I have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C.

"I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." - December 10, 1964, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo, Norway.

"I had received [letters] from the President and the Vice-President. I've forgotten what those telegrams said. I'd received a visit and a letter from the Governor of New York, but I've forgotten what the letter said. But there was another letter that came from a little girl, a young girl who was a student at the White Plains High School. And I looked at that letter, and I'll never forget it. It said simply, 'Dear Dr. King: I am a ninth-grade student at the Whites Plains High School.' She said, 'While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I am a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune, and of your suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze.' And I want to say tonight, I want to say that I am happy that I didn't sneeze." - April 3, 1968, Memphis.

"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. 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. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." - April 3, 1968, Memphis.

"If your opponent has a conscience, then follow Gandhi and nonviolence. But if your enemy has no conscience like Hitler, then follow Bonhoeffer."

"Let no one drive you so low as to hate him."

"Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him."

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."

"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."

"The greatest sin of our time is not the few who have destroyed but the vast majority who sat idly by."

"The time is always right to do what is right."

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

"When evil men plot, good men must plan; when evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind; when evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love; where evil men will seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice."

It will be a happy day indeed when the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial is completed and takes its place on the National Mall between Washington and Lincoln, finally giving a fitting honor to the man who gave the last full measure of devotion for the freedom of everyone everywhere.

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