As we celebrate a day of tribute and honor to the slain civil rights leader, I remember what it was like growing up before his work began. I grew up in the South - in Northern Virginia in the suburbs just outside of Washington, D.C. - our nation's capitol. I remember the two separate everythings - the water fountains marked white only - the movie theatre balconies for "colored only" - the signs on restaurants restricting entrance or directing "colored" people to the back or side door. I remember driving through streets right next to the White House and the Capitol where people lived in the most abject poverty in the shadow of the most powerful leaders in our nation and the world. I saw families sitting on the curb with all their belongings around them - evicted from the only home they had ever known with no place to go. It pained me then as a young girl, as it pains me now to see how low human beings would go in their ignorance and lack of caring for other human beings, simply based on the color of their skin. Dr. King's dream has many facets. But the part that speaks to me is the part that said, he dreamed of a day when his children are no longer judged by the color of their skin, but rather by the content of their character.
"...Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!..."
Martin Luther King was only 26 years old when he lead the boycott of segregated Montgomery, Alabama buses gaining national recognition. And he was only 35 when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Peace - the youngest person to be awarded this prize.
But I believe Dr. King's most important work came towards the end of his life. When arrested in Birmingham, he wrote his famous "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" where he laid out the groundwork for what would continue to be his life's work until the day he was shot down on the balcony of his motel room.
"...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, affects all indirectly..." -- Dr. Martin Luther King jr, "Letter from Birmingham Jail", April 1963
Today we live in a different time. Some of what Dr. King fought so hard to achieve has come to fruition. But there is so much more work to be done - in so many areas of the world we live in. I take time today to reflect on my own life. How am I giving back to my community, my family, my friends, and to the greater world? What small things can I do to make this a better place in which to live? How can I be of service? I start with simple things, like holding the door open for someone who is walking behind me at the bank or the store. I speak to workers I come in contact with even if it's just to ask how their day is going. I try to smile at someone I don't know each day. After all, if I am not part of the solution, then I am part of the problem. If everyone does one small thing each day, who knows what would happen? I'd like to find out. Won't you join me on this day when we honor a pioneer and leader - lost too soon - to think of something you can do to make our world a better place? By each of us doing our part, we give Dr. King the highest honor - the honor of taking his words to heart and continuing his work and his dream.
