It is a new year and as always I am optimistic about the next 11 months and beyond.  It has been years since I have made resolutions and I will not start now. Generally, I make goals and commitments.  Yet, this year, I seem to be moving in slow motion.  This feeling of being slow is an odd one but I know it is about being patient with myself and others.  Currently, I am averaging an F- in the patience department.

This post was to be about me and how I plan to be a better, healthier, wiser person in 2010.  However, someone posted a question to Facebook today that caught my attention: What does Martin Luther King, Jr. mean to you?  I did not respond on Facebook and had no intention of responding here.  As I went through the day, the question kept coming to the forefront of my consciousness. Thus, in my opinion, begging to be answered.

Although, we (the U.S.) have celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday on the third Monday in January since 1987, I often celebrate my Martin’s birthday on the day we both share, January 15.  Yes, I claim him as “my” Martin although I have no memory of him when he was alive. He lives through the stories told to me by family and friends.  I celebrate him in the same way every year:  by reading about his life and reviewing his essays, letters, and speeches. He speaks to me and encourages me to be a better person.  He reminds me that “[w]e are challenged to develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone, no nation can live alone, and anyone who feels that he can live alone is sleeping through a revolution (Carson & Holloran, 1998, p. 207).”

For most people, Dr. King is known through sound bites from the “I Have a Dream” speech, which is actually titled “I See the Promised Land” and was delivered on the eve of his assassination. What I often hear quoted is:

Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord (King, 1986, p. 203).

But there were two major points in that speech that I think are especially significant that do not get enough of our attention or any air time.  First, he speaks with respect to economics.  “Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal (King, 1986, p. 198).”  In short, why pay for bad treatment. The movement underway to get people to move their money from the large banks to smaller community banks echoes Dr. King’s sentiment.

Second, he says, “Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness.  Let us stand with a greater determination.  And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be.  We have an opportunity to make America a better nation (King, 1986. P. 201).”   It would have been nice if the unethical people at Enron, Citibank, or Goldman Sachs read that part of the speech, because, in my opinion, they did nothing to make America a better nation. “To whom much is given.…”

What if Martin had decided to take the well-worn path when he became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Church in Montgomery, Alabama in 1954?  What if he decided it was enough to minister only to his congregation?  I am sure when Martin decided to become a prince of peace that people thought he had lost his mind.  Did he not know he had a wife and children to feed?  It does not take much of an imagination to know what people were saying.

So, what does Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. mean to me?  Although words are limiting, he represents an intersection; a coming together of all that we were, all that we are, and all that we can become.

Sources of quotes

Carson, C., & Holloran, P. (Eds.). (1998). A knock at midnight: inspiration from the great sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Warner Books, Inc.

King, M. L. (1986). I have a dream: writings and speeches that changed the world. (J. M. Washington, Ed.) San Francisco: Happer’s.

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With today’s temperature in Chicago at 31 F  (according to weather.com, it feels like 22 F) and no where I need to be,  I thought I would catch up on what is happening in and around the world.  In short,  I’m just, as Dave Chapelle might say “chillin’ and shit.”

While there are so many great and truly  moving stories in the world,  today, I find myself drawn to the most trivial, humorous, and low brow ones.  Of course, Tiger Woods is at the top of that list.

The mainstream media (MSM) began the Tiger saga the day after Thanksgiving in which most news outlets  inaccurately posted headlines that Tiger Woods had been in a serious accident.  So, I clicked on a link here and there, only to find out that the accident was not serious.  However, too many questions were unanswered, which suggested to me there was much more to come.  Indeed.   This morning, I have been captivated by these articles, voice mail, and photos that most of my morning slipped by.

At some point my brain gets crowded with these senseless stories  and clarity seems to peek through.  I begin to ask deeper questions.  Why are we so obsessed with physically infidelity?  Isn’t a spouse/partner’s affair with his/her work, friends, causes, etc.  equally damaging to a relationship?

I do not know the answer to these questions but it gives me something to think about that is thoughtful and makes me feel as though I am elevating conversation.   Now that I have had my fill of sex, voice mail, and golf clubs on to more intellectually stimulating stories, videos and the like.

Peace.

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At the beginning of 2009, one of the things on my task list was to find a way that I could combine my many interests into something unique.  I did not know what that would look like.   So I let it simmer in the recesses of my mind for many months.  Over the summer, it started taking shape.  It is finally coming together.

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