Remembering Dr King

Posted: Thursday, April 04, 2013 by Travis Cody in
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I didn't realize my post hadn't published today.  That's really annoying, particularly when I mean to commemorate something important, like remembering that Dr King was murdered 45 years ago today.

Please give thought to these words...

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction...The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the abyss of annihilation. (MLK, 1963)

On 4 April 1968, Dr Martin Luther King Jr was gunned down as he spoke from the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN.   He was just 39 years old. He was a leader for us all and his words are as powerful today as they were when he first spoke them and wrote them.

We have come so far, and yet we have so much farther to go.  Recent threats out of North Korea show us we have much work to do to put the world's social house in order.  It's easy to be cynical these days about respect and peace.   I'm not saying that there aren't things worth fighting for, because there are.  But the fight won't always require a closed fist.  Sometimes the fight calls for an open hand, stretched forth in love, respect, and brotherhood.

Please keep the words of Dr King, and the ideas behind them, foremost in your thoughts, not just today as we commemorate the day he was assassinated, but every day.

15 January 1929 - 4 April 1968


4 comments:

  1. Jeni says:

    Hate multitudes hate -if only people would just realize how true his words were and today, those words ring even truer than they did back then. If each one would use that old children's song -"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..." just think how far ahead we would ALL be today.
    Thanks for doing what you always do, Trav -put up a good post!

  1. Jean(ie) says:

    I wonder what he would think of where we are now. He was an inspiration to us all.

  1. Yes, an important influence on many. We needed him.

  1. Akelamalu says:

    A couple of years ago when we visited the deep south we stopped by the Lorraine Motel remembering Dr. King, it was a sad moment. A wonderful man.