Martin Luther King

                    As today is a legal, federal holiday named in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., I suppose that I should write something about Dr. King.  I wrote the facts of his life and death here; therefore, I do not plan to write them again.

                    It has been nearly fifty years since Dr. King made his "I have a dream" speech on August 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.  More than 200,000 people were in the crowd that day.  His speech became a rallying cry for black Americans.  This momentous event took place before the Civil Rights Act, before the Voting Rights Act, and before the race riots across our nation. 

                    This speech was a clarion call in an effort to unify our nation in a time of great turmoil.  It was a speech that became a classic of world oratory.  It is a speech that should be read today; therefore, I will include a few lines from it in my blog.

                    So I say to you, my friends, that even though we must face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.  It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:  We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

                    I have a dream that one day …, sons of former slaves and sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood….

                    I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character….

                    With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

                    With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, …, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

                    This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:  `My country 'tis of thee; sweet land of liberty; of thee I sing; land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride; from every mountainside, let freedom ring.'

                    And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

                    So let freedom ring….

                    I have a firm belief in the words of the Declaration of Independence that say, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."  No one - no person of any color, creed, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, etc - no one should be discriminated against.  Every person is a son or a daughter of a loving Heavenly Father and should be treated with respect and justice.   

Dr. King believed in "social justice" - redistribution of wealth.  I do not.  Every person should "carry their own weight" to the fullest extent possible.  I believe that we should be able to obtain that for which we are willing and able to work for.  I believe that no one deserves to reap the benefits of the labor of someone else.  We should all be judged by the quality of our character and not by the color of our skin - or any other difference.