Thank You MLK Jr

[ruckman101]

'A genuine revolution of values means, in the final analysis, that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies.

This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all mankind. This oft-misunderstood, this oft-misinterpreted concept, so readily dismissed by the Nietzsches of the world as a weak and cowardly force, has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of man.

When I speak of love, I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response, I am not speaking of that force which is just emotional bosh. I’m speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Muslim-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the First Epistle of Saint John: “Let us love one another; for love is God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. If we love one another God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

Let us hope that this spirit will become the order of the day. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. As Arnold Toynbee says, "Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word," unquote.'

An excerpt from his “Beyond Vietnam” speech, delivered at New York’s Riverside Church on April 4th, 1967, a year-to-the-day before he was assassinated.


neal

[Sylvester]

Amen! I enjoy listening to his speeches, must be the Baptist in me!

[Sluggo]

Amen! I enjoy listening to his speeches, must be the Baptist in me!

Don't need to be a baptist to enjoy a truly GREAT speaker. I think he would be amazed at how much yet how little we've achieved. And at the kind of petty crap we bicker about now.

[Amskeptic]

I think he would be amazed at how much yet how little we've achieved. And at the kind of petty crap we bicker about now.

As in life, he would be proud and disappointed at the same time.
Our black President is an intelligent eloquent speaker, AND the nitwits in Congress are trying their hardest to piss us off to the last one of us.
Colin

[Velokid1]

I've been snickering at people over the MLK holiday who take the celebration of MLK's life as an opportunity to take a dig at Obama. "I liked what MLK did for colored folks... and Obama, you ain't no Martin Luther King!"

Uh... is that what you think he's trying to be? Why? Because he's a leader and he's black?

I'm no cheerleader for Obama, but Christ... if you're going to criticize him, find real reasons to do so instead of grasping at thin air and showing your true racist colors in the process.

There are people out there today, by the way, as wonderful and compassionate and fierce as MLK. They're all over. They don't get the accolades or attention they deserve, but they're out there working hard to help other people every day. Shine a light on them when you can.

Check this out: http://www.hcz.org/

That man blows my mind. What a mark he's leaving on the world and on the human race.

[Amskeptic]

There are people out there today, by the way, as wonderful and compassionate and fierce as MLK. They're all over.

You can just feel it in your heart, those who can make you feel proud to be a human being.
Colin
but why is it SO RARE??????