Martin Luther King Jr. Day

The fact that we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a nation and as a community across borders is a testament to our ability as people to learn from our mistakes and to become better human beings in the process.

Even as we face the litany of challenges before us today, from gross injustices against the most vulnerable people in our world to assaults against our ecosystems and our planet, I am hopeful that “individuals” will make a a “world” of difference and will help change the tide. As long as we can as a country of diverse views and opinions continue to honor a man and a visionary like Martin Luther King, I’m hopeful.

In honor of Dr. King, I’ve pasted below a segment of one of the most moving speeches I have ever heard in my life–Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. I’ve also provided a link to the YouTube video for you to listen this moving speech.

…Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, 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.

Here is a link to the entire speech.

Tags: Holidays