MLK Day 2021 - a Day of Reflection

Today is Martin Luther King Jr day in the USA. It is a day that I have spent reflecting on the state of the world (particularly the USA) in 2021. My teenage daughter spent the day filling boxes for Action Ministries - paying it forward and aligning to one of MLK's great quotes:

“Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

Dr King was born on January 15th, 1929 and led a non-violent resistance movement that brought about massive changes in American culture, and paved the way for the end of segregation and expansion of human rights. He was assassinated in 1968 at the young age of 39.

I am particularly drawn to this quote: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” To be living in a time where there is so much hate, I am hopeful that a new regime will be peacefully inaugurated this week and a nation can start to heal. After all, “Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.”

The last year saw a movement ignited after the brutal death of George Floyd. In some ways we have progressed so much in the 50+ years since MLK was assassinated.  We voted in a black President (twice!).  But in many other ways, we still have so much to do. “We’ve learned to fly the air like birds. We’ve learned to swim the seas like fish. And yet we haven’t learned to walk the earth like brothers and sisters.”  Dr King had a dream where all people were treated equal.  We have passed laws to move in the right direction, but until people feel it in their hearts and minds, they are just empty words. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Now, more than ever, we need to unite, stand together, speak up, silence bully’s, support each other and step up.  “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.”

It is critical that we return to a time where we can debate and disagree, without resorting to violence and hate. We must trust facts, science and data. We must use the wonderful diversity of human beings around the world to solve the challenges ahead of us, together.

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

“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.”

My day of reflection can be summed up in 4 of Dr King’s quotes:

“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”

“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.”

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

“We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

I will sign off with this great picture of a new statue honoring Dr King in my home town of Atlanta. Recently unveiled, this wonderful bronze statue was carved by Basil Watson. Right across the road from the Mercedes Benz Stadium, at the intersection of MLK Jr Drive and Northside Drive, it is the first of 7 installations dedicated to Dr King.