Martin Luther King asked a small thing of our nation. He asked that we live up to the promise, the ideal that all men were created equal. He asked for us to be our best selves. What Dr. King was doing was trying to save us from ourselves as a nation, as a people.
Reflecting on the message of Martin Luther King makes me a little ashamed of my own anger, my own sometimes, hatred of others with different thoughts, different values.
Reflecting upon this, I remember that what I want in the world is better for everyone. I want equality among people as well as a healthier, wilder, freer planet. These are all things everyone should want, whether they really know it or not, because it makes life better for everyone.
This view, that you can encourage the better part of your enemy to help you demands a certain faith, a faith in people, in our nation. I don’t have much of this faith and less of it now more than ever but I have hope.
I have hope that Dr. King wasn’t killed for nothing that his faith in people wasn’t for naught. Today, during this turbulent moment in America and on earth, it’s good to reflect on that hope, that dream of a better world.
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