Like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., today we need to focus on a higher place with a better goal.
So, why does our nation continue to place a higher emphasis on skin color rather than the content of character? Dr. King would be so disappointed. Some of you remember Dr. King leading peaceful protests that I believe remain the example to follow today. He was a trailblazer. Our nation wouldn’t be where we are today without him. Was his work for naught? No. We’ve come a long way, and we need to reflect on the many milestones in the past 50 years.
Conversely, I have heard that unless you’re of particular skin color or hue, “you wouldn’t understand.” I respond with a few of my examples of being the only person in a group of people who don’t look/act/think like me and efforts made to find common ground. I was talking to my pastor about this; the fact is, if it isn’t skin color, human beings find reasons to group up, separate, and set themselves above some other group. We are selfish and self-centered that way—all of us.
Dr. King, on the other hand, appealed to ideals like freedom, brotherly love, and justice. Undeniably, he didn’t fight only for civil rights. He fought for what is right. Dr. King famously quoted Amos 5:24-“But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
But where do true justice and righteousness come from? Indeed not from our self-centered hearts. It must come from a Higher Power and place. On Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day, we do well to focus on that Higher place and the content of our character-a higher place and a better goal, not the outward appearance of color.
This is Common Sense Civics and Citizenship.🇺🇸
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