As we head into President-elect Obama's inauguration which surely will change everything-forever, it seems appropriate that today is Martin Luther King Jr's birthday. I wonder if we would be where we are today if he wasn't where he was many years ago. Happy Birthday, MLK.
A blurb from the "Writer's Almanac" that came this morning:
"MLK was a minister in Montgomery, Alabama, 26 years old, when he was chosen to lead a boycott of segregated buses. He didn't set out to become civil rights activist, and he said later that if he'd known what the job would entail, he might have turned it down. He wasn't even sure he wanted to become a preacher. As a teenager, he thought that the way people shouted and made noise in his Baptist church was embarrassing.
But during the bus boycott, during which he was assaulted and arrested and his house was bombed, he experienced what he described as a religious conversion. He realized that the civil rights movement was greater than King himself, greater than his own doubts, and that he had to act like a charismatic figurehead, even if he didn't feel like one. He said: 'As I became involved, and as people began to derive inspiration from their involvement, I realized that the choice leaves your own hands. The people expect you to give them leadership.'"
No comments:
Post a Comment