Martin

In this (r)evolutionary* moment, we don’t need another hero. The path has been cut. The conviction has been demonstrated. Clarity has touched us long enough to breathe Life back into us. We know what freedom feels like even in a prison cell. We know that what is true and good is true and good for all humanity. We know that every time a person is abused, left to starve, forced from their land, traded as slaves, it is our own humanity that is lost. We know this. And yet we avert our eyes and wait for another Martin. This is not a moment to celebrate the man and forget what he gave.

In doing so we demonstrate that while we may have heard the words we have not felt the passion. It is not an easy walk, being true to oneself. It is not an easy walk to stand up to injustice as others turn away. It is not an easy walk, knowing that hate is almost as powerful as love and waiting. Almost.

I did not know Martin. I know him now. I know him because I have begun to understand the effort that it takes to be true to yourself. There is no time to waste, there are no more Martin’s to lose. We can awaken to the reality of the fire in our hearts. We can find and hold tightly to the cord of love that runs through every living breathing human being. We must not believe but instead we must know that the “arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”**

Stop obsessing about time. Where there is Love there is no time. We have now. The torch has been passed. We are alive and to claim our humanity we must shed the personal doubt that we can do this. Because we can.

If we can dream a man on the moon and see it happen, we can envision peace and make it so.

Don’t sleep through this precious Life. In “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution”*** Dr. Martin Luther King invited us to a higher humanity. Accept the invitation.

We are more powerful than we know. Thank you Dr. King.

 

*http://graceleeboggs.com/

**http://optimisticquotes.org/the-arc-of-the-moral-universe/

***http://www.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/BlackHistoryMonth/MLK/CommAddress.html