This past semester, I had the privilege doing an independent study on the man that I would quickly come to respect and admire. A man who constantly battled oppression, bitterness, racial hatred, and all manners of evil with hope, perseverance, and love, leading a people and a nation. He was man who believed because God is a God who deeply loves His people and is actively involved in the world, both in history and today. In light of this, so should we deeply and aggressively love the people of this world, those that love us and hate us, oppress us or oppress others, and actively be involved in bring hope and love to the world.
He was a man of action, despising apathy and cowardice. King said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Later he would write, “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” In his famous speech, A Knock at Midnight, King illustrates the parable of the persistent neighbor, knocking on his neighbors door to ask for food to feed a visitor. In the parable, this neighbor refuses to be denied, continually knocking until the help he seeks is given to him. Tragically, King comments that the church has ignored the knocks and cries of the African American people, but comments that the cries would go unheard no more. King led a movement that refused to be ignored.
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” Do you have a dream? Do you see oppression or hear the cries of the voiceless? I challenge you to make it a reality, love the unloved. “Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step… Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.” King believed, “The time is always right to do what is right.”
“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… The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”
What are you doing? What am I doing? If you’re doing something, what are you intentions? How are we serving, giving, loving?
Martin Luther King Jr. was a man who gave hope and direction to a suffering, lost, and directionless people, calling them to action and freedom, out of a life that loved. “It is not enough to be silent and simply hope for a positive situation, or simply ignore it and have it go away. Change must be deliberate, and action focused.” The Civil Rights movement was very deliberate and its action would not be ignored. White communities, the nation, even the world began to see that “Hatred and bigotry could and should be confronted, exposed, and dealt with.
Martin Luther King Jr. was a leader who sacrificially served his people, inspiring in them hope that led to action. This movement continues today. He was a man who found confidence in his African heritage, truth in his quest for knowledge and wisdom, courage in the face of danger and self-sacrifice. He had a deep love for God and all peoples around him. When the histories are documented from now until forever, humanity will find a man that brought hope to a hopeless world.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
-Ernie
* ALL QUOTES and Ideas credited to Martin Luther King Jr.
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