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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

He helped to open the way
Yesterday was very busy with the second inauguration of our first African American president, Barack Obama.

It was also Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Dredd Blog has commented on Dr. King in a couple of posts (e.g. Happy Birthday Dr. King and Dr. King Is Remembered).

In one of those posts it was pointed out:
The only national holiday for an American who did not hold "public office" belongs to the memory and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Lets face it, many great Americans did not hold public office, and in fact, the Dredd Blog philosophy is that those who hold office too long will suffer the toxins of power, unless they have the immunity of a saint.

Dr. King was a force for moving from the right to the left, or to a kinder, gentler nation, as Bush I was fond of saying.

From slavery to citizenship is a long haul, but we did it, with a lot of help from Abe Lincoln and Martin King.
(ibid, Happy Birthday Dr. King). He was a public figure that had healing words that would still work for our nation today:
Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it ...

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends ...

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 ...

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity ...

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
(ibid, Happy Birthday Dr. King). Today Dr. King might have said "we have guided drones and misguided men."

According to the verdict of a U.S. court, it was a conspiracy of misguided government officials who assassinated him (see Dr. King Is Remembered, linked above).


1 comment:

  1. "guided drones and misguided men"

    The U.N. is opening an investigation into it: Link

    ReplyDelete