A Man With A Dream

Today the birthday of a man is being celebrated, who fought for racial equality, a man who had a dream that one day racial segregation and hatred would end. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born January 15th 1929. He is mostly known for fighting for civil rights of all races and for his speech given outside of the  Lincoln Memorial in 1963, titled “I have a dream”. He was also a Baptist Christian Minister, who was inspired and followed the peace teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, and was the youngest in history to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He was tragically assassinated in April 4th, 1968.

But beyond his accomplishments and the tragedy of his death, Dr. Martin Luther King was just a man who wanted freedom for everyone. He had paved the road, giving a huge leap forward in civil rights… But we are still far from reaching his dream. We are still plagued with racial differences, biases, and hatred. All men are still not considered created, or treated, equally. Dr. King’s speech on evil and good men, still implies to current times:

“When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love. Where evil men would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice.”

Dr. Martin Luther King is still dreaming and we should all work together to make his dream come into reality, someday. I want to live in a world where a man is not judged by the color of his skin, but for the content of his character. I want to live in a world where race and differences in cultures do not matter, but how well we treat, accept, and love each other. Don’t you? :-)

I can only remember the old freedom song and hope that someday people will stop hurting each other over little insignificance differences, things like race, creed, or religion. As the old song goes: “We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome someday. Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe. That we shall overcome someday.”

-D