January 17th, 2011

Martin Luther King Jr. Day - 2011

                There is no doubt that Martin Luther King Jr. was an amazing man. A man with passion. A man, as we now famously know, with a dream. Why hasn’t that dream taken seed and grown in the American consciousness? With all the actions, activity, foundations, and even laws, how is it that we as a country don’t seem to be any closer to a society wide reality of equality? Maybe the answer isn’t found in color, religion, or sexual identity. Maybe the problem can’t be legislated, talked about, or even marched against. Maybe the problem is so fundamental and so simple that we simply are blinded to it. It is something that is common to all of us, no matter who you are. Just like I can’t see my own mouth, I can’t see the fundamental problem within myself.

                That which prevents us from achieving a reality of equality is us. I prevent me from seeing all people as equal to myself. Just like I have to look in a mirror to see my own mouth, I must be willing to see some part of myself in every person that I think is wrong, different, or “less” than myself. All the arguing, screaming, marching, and legislating will not accomplish that end. So, what will?

                The solution lies in something, or someone, bigger than all of us. The idea of equality is too slippery to be a “higher ideal” to which we strive. It can be defined in too many ways by too many people. What if we all believed in someone that places us all on the same level? That someone has not and cannot be Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He never placed himself there, and we’d do him a gross disservice to place him as that someone. What if that someone is to be Jesus? If He is all that He said he is, does that not put us all on the same level? In the light of Jesus, I can without threat or superiority, see some part of myself in everyone else. Only then, can I see past myself and see all others as my equal; equally needing help.

Posted: 1 year ago