I’ve given this question much, much thought: probably too much thought. After a certain point, if you love somebody, you just love them. But because I’m a trained counselor, there’s a part of my brain that steps back from certain situations and evaluates them. Sometimes I wish it wouldn’t do that but that part of my brain is also pretty useful.
He was black and I’m white; I’m Jewish and he was a Christian. But part of the truth is that I identify with the down-trodden. Why is this? There are lots of reasons. Being raised Jewish, I was taught in religious school how much the Jews were persecuted. Also, with my speech impediment I felt very much alone. Not being able to communicate clearly hacks away at a person’s self-esteem.
As I read more about this most dignified leader, I found more reasons to respect him. I learned about the bus strike and was amazed; this small mob of people with little to live and to strive for managed to get the “fire in the belly” and pulled together. And this was in the face of white brutality. They had to wake up very early and walk to work; they formed car pools. And this went on for about a year–until, yes, the bus company officials, sending empty buses around and around their routes, losing money, capitulated.
I have a VHS tape that has recordings of all MLK’s speeches. I’ve watched it, over and over. When he comes to the end of the “I Have A Dream” speech he talks about everyone, all of us, no matter who we are, joining hands and saying that we are all free at last. We are all beset with many concerns; however, I like to keep this image in my mind no matter what’s going on.
I taught a course last fall called “Writing for Peace and Sanity.” I got the idea for this because I’ve been thinking about 9/11 and everything that followed–all the tragedies and we all know what they are. I thought that through writing we could somehow make sense of them, or at least use writing to help ourselves and others.
One of the peak moments of my life? I printed out the entire text of the Dream speech, cut it into five sections, and gave each student a part of the speech to think and write about. The following week we discussed this speech. As this was going on I was thinking and hoping that Martin Luther King, Jr. was somehow present and listening. It’s like scattering seeds; they may fall onto fertile ground.
lgmwriting 