"Let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King." --James Taylor
The following is from the autobiography of Dr. Martin Luther King. He shares the process of preparing and delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech,
"The night of the twenty-seventh I got into Washington about ten o'clock and went to the hotel. I thought through what I would say...I did not finish the complete text of my speech until about four a.m. on the morning of the twenty-eighth [the day he gave the speech]...
"I started out reading the speech and read it down to a point...and all of a sudden this thing came to me. The previous June...I had delivered a speech in Cobo Hall [Detroit], in which I used the phrase 'I have a dream.' I had used it many times before, and I just felt that I wanted to use it here. I don't know why. I hadn't thought about it before the speech. I used the phrase, at that point I just turned aside from the manuscript altogether and I didn't come back to it."
It is obvious that this man was inspired to do the things that he did. In the most difficult and discouraging days of World War II, Winston Churchill said to the people of England: “To every man there comes … that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a special thing unique to him and fitted to his talent. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour.” I believe that Dr. Kind was tapped on the shoulder, and he was ready, and he did do the task that was "unique to him and fitted for his talent."
"The night of the twenty-seventh I got into Washington about ten o'clock and went to the hotel. I thought through what I would say...I did not finish the complete text of my speech until about four a.m. on the morning of the twenty-eighth [the day he gave the speech]...
"I started out reading the speech and read it down to a point...and all of a sudden this thing came to me. The previous June...I had delivered a speech in Cobo Hall [Detroit], in which I used the phrase 'I have a dream.' I had used it many times before, and I just felt that I wanted to use it here. I don't know why. I hadn't thought about it before the speech. I used the phrase, at that point I just turned aside from the manuscript altogether and I didn't come back to it."
It is obvious that this man was inspired to do the things that he did. In the most difficult and discouraging days of World War II, Winston Churchill said to the people of England: “To every man there comes … that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a special thing unique to him and fitted to his talent. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour.” I believe that Dr. Kind was tapped on the shoulder, and he was ready, and he did do the task that was "unique to him and fitted for his talent."
From the pen of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr:
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, effects all indirectly. . . We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right."
-from "Letter from Burmingham Jail" - written to clergymen who had condemned the street demonstrations of Martin Luther King Jr. Obviously, written in Burmingham Jail. Worth reading.
Posted by
Anonymous |
Tue Feb 08, 10:46:00 PM
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Posted by
Cody Russell McComas |
Wed Feb 09, 10:25:00 AM