Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.
Monday, January 18th, 2010While Oozil is busy gathering the greatest creative minds in the country, we’re taking the time today to remember one of the greatest minds –and greatest men– in our country’s history. It’s been more than four decades since Martin Luther King Jr. shared his wisdom with us, but his words are still relevant today in an America that has made huge strides, but still struggles with its identity.
His words also tell us not to give up hope, whatever our personal obstacles, and to persevere with hope, kindness and intelligence.
Martin Luther King Jr. in his own words:
“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”
“Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better. ”
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.
“Intelligence plus character is the true meaning of education.”
“It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.”
“When you are … living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of ‘nobodiness’ — then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.”
“We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope.”
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
And, the words that could almost be the Oozil motto: “Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”
Thanks, Dr. King, for making the world a better place.
By Elizabeth Kelly, with generous assistance from Dr. King