Thursday, January 19, 2006

Monday was Martin Luther King Day

Monday was Martin Luther King Day, or as it is known in Utah, Human Rights Day. Monday, we remembered a man, a dream and a legacy.

I have heard it said, “the dream is fading,” “the dream is dead,” or “we need new leaders.” It all makes me very tired. The dream isn’t faded, we are jaded. The dream is not dead, we are apathetic. We don’t need new leaders, we have leaders, we just do not like or respect them. Where do we stand?

We are a nation of jaded, cynics.

We, all of us, whether you are of African descent, European descent, Christian, Jewish, male, female, middle class, affluent, are jaded. We see people doing good works and wonder, “what are they doing? What are they trying to prove?” We have all bought into that new-fangled idea that to give something, you have to get something. When we see random acts of kindness, how quickly do our cynically little minds try to calculate how that person is “getting theirs” just out of our view? We have gotten so accustomed to CEOs bilking employees of their financial futures, politicians literally getting caught with their pants down and family members violently turning against each other that we can no longer see the “senseless acts of beauty” that make a community.

We are a nation in the constant state of busy-ness.
Our lives are so busy, just living them. Where is their time in a day to work, eat, sleep, play, keep up with the laws being debated in Congress, what the mayor is doing with our tax money and keep tabs on earth friendly corporations? Sadly, there just is not. How can we ever hope to make our world a better place if it won’t stop spinning long enough for us to catch our breath? Where can we pack one more thing into our schedules?

We want our leaders to be perfect, not human.
We live in a world where our every move is documented, every spoken word is recorded. Dozens and dozens of television shows have built their entire premises showing the minutiae of someone’s life. Who could stand under that kind of microscope and not have things that we would rather be kept hidden revealed? We are not perfect followers, why should we demand perfect leaders? Posthumously, it has been proven that Dr. King had affairs. Does that negate his leadership of the Montgomery bus boycott? Does that negate the truth in his “I Have A Dream” speech?

The (Wo)man in the mirror.
I include myself in all of this. I too have become engulfed in waves of apathy, furiously running the treadmill of “life,” with little time for “all that stuff.” On top of being jaded and apathetic, I am also angry. Why do we keep electing people who only serve themselves and the small minority that financially backed their campaigns? Why do we turn on the television to watch people degrade themselves on talk shows and court shows, but turn the television off when the news begins? And what about this: I heard some young men on the news today say “why is his dream so important, what about my dream” as they stand on the corner, “dreaming” the day away, no doubt.

It is not my intention to scold us for what we have not done, but to spur us to greater works by showing how large the gaps are in our minds, our hearts, our spirits, our families, our communities, our country, our world. These gaps need to be filled, benevolent souls, filled by you and me.

Where do we go from here?
Truthfully, I have more questions than answers. Inasmuch as I would like to have a formula to change the many things that I see that sadden or anger me, in the interest of time, I’ll just be blunt: there is no easy “fix.” I cannot offer a little “to do” list where each action can be tidily checked off, leaving us all with a better sense of self and community. Maybe all I can offer you are these words scrolling on your screen. What I offer to you is what I offer to myself, which is this: find opportunities to serve others. By every act of service, we not only enrich our own hearts, minds and spirits, we encourage others to do the same. There is always time for service, be it opening a door for someone laden with packages or just listening, really listening to another person’s story, be them friend or stranger.

We can learn to give—our time, our money, our lives—with no thought of return, we can learn to be still—if only for a moment while the car is warming up—without fear that our lives will totally unravel if we are not always “on task,” we can learn to accept our brothers and sisters—as we wish to be accepted—as whole people, not as one-dimensional icons.

I can offer one concrete suggestion: go to the website for The King Center. The King Center is the organization and memorial started by Coretta Scott King celebrating and extending the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Through the Beloved Community Network, there are many tangible ways to get involved in service projects, even in small ways. No act is too small if it helps another soul. We would do well to remember that.


Peace.




“If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.” -- Martin Luther King, “The Drum Major Instinct,” February 4, 1968.

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