Léna is also a Regional Manager for Writopia Lab whose mission is to foster joy, literacy, and critical thinking in kids and teens from all backgrounds through creative writing.

"Well, the question is, what do you want to believe? Do you want to live in a world where things are possible, or in one where they aren't?" Cin, Edges.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Thank You, Dr. King

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
— Martin Luther King Jr.
 
I'd better write this tonight while I'm bleary-eyed, before I read all of the well written and thought out blogs tomorrow, celebrating what would have been your 82nd birthday. Before reading more about the Arizona gunman and people pleading for another charismatic leader to stop the madness. Then I would certainly chicken out. But tonight, it's just you and me. I LOVE celebrating you - always have (and not just because we got a day off of school).
You were murdered the year I was born, a fact which has always frightened/fascinated me. Do we really live in a world where good people are punished? How can there be a God? Yet you were a man of deep faith, embodying this idea of radical love and have always been  one of my biggest heroes. Darkness begets darkness . . . we are what we think and believe, aren't we, Dr. King?
You planted a seed of social activism that blossomed and complemented my Christian/bohemian upbringing: your crossover of Christian ideals and Ghandi-like philosophy appealed to my budding soul. You were responsible for my becoming politicized: as a teen I marched and I canvassed for no nukes, civil rights, gay rights, women's rights, the environment. I wanted to live in and believe in a world where radical love was possible. I lost my faith in my early '20's, Dr. King. I had some difficult times and some hard knocks. Then I channeled my energy into becoming a therapist, a mother, a writer, but always with the hope of being of service. 
My husband and I were awed by the National Civil Rights Museum when we drove through Memphis on our cross country road trip 13 years ago. The museum was built around the Lorraine Motel where you were assassinated. We spent an entire day there, hearts in our throat. It's one thing to have knowledge of these events, and quite another to have visual and tactile context.
My faith ebbs and flows, but I love taking time to remember you, Dr. King - a man whose spiritual and civic duty were one and the same. A man who died for what he believed in. 
Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Stockholm, Sweden, December 11, 1964.
 

 

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9 comments:

  1. Such an amazing man. I grew up being blown away by all he accomplished--his wisdom. Then, in college, I had to read some of his actual speeches not for a history class or a class on politics, but a literature class. I was asked, as a writer, to study his speeches and they blew my mind and I was impressed by him all over again.

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  2. That's so cool Lish - to study his speeches from a literary perspective. He was certainly a mind-blowing figure! I wish there were more heroes like him.

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  3. So, wouldn't that be a cool dystopian YA novel, the embodiment of that last quote? How do you overcome oppression without becoming that organized oppression? Reminds me of 'Hunger Games' and the new amazing 'Matched' by Ally Condie, fellow Utahn. Dr. King's character is so interesting too. He was flawed. But his words transcend and I believe redeem and embody his humanity.

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  4. Lovely. Thank you so much for sharing.

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  5. Oh yes, Word Diva! Will you write one?

    Thank you Demery! I love your name - what is it's origination?

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  6. Such articles are very good for me to read because they have some inspirational words and thoughts shared in it. The very common thing mentioned in the australian-writings is about hard time and hard thing that we may faced many time with courage and the only way to face such issues or problems is the good thinking and effort that is important.

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