MLK DAY 2009

What follows is a couple years old but reading it over I thought I should have it here too.

Every year I somehow someway end up hearing the "I have a dream" speech. Usually on NPR.It never gets old.

It makes you think about where we've been and where we are. He saw enough to imagine all the good that was possible and to warn of all the pitfalls along the way.

And even with all that warning, we still managed to hit most of them.
As far as we've come. We still fall so far short.

As a society we tend to look at the past from two points of view. We exalt the achievements of the past while at the same time being mystified by how far behind us they were to be faced with those problems in the first place.

He saw the path. He saw that in the struggle to achieve social and legal equality there would be the temptation to demonize all whites as "the enemy" and went out of his way to point out the white men and women that were standing with them that day. Because they recognized that we are not separate. The cause of freedom binds us all to one another.
And he warned of using violence in pursuit of that freedom.

Which reminded me of a buddhist belief that talks about how for your pursuits in this life to be pure they must come from "right thought, right speech, right action, right meditation, etc". The idea behind it being that it's not enough to want the right thing. You have to pursue it in the right way for the right reasons. When you use the wrong path to acquire that right thing then the whole thing has a fatal flaw built into it that will ultimately cause it to fall apart.

Lots of missteps we've all taken on this path. Some well intentioned and badly executed. Some badly intentioned and well executed. I get it. It's hard enough just to do the right thing, much less doing the right thing the right way.

It's like the old saying goes "If it were easy everyone would do it"

It's not easy. It's hard. Decades and Centuries hard.

Some want to build a better world. Some just want to get along. Make it through every next day. Worry about themselves. Keeping their vision narrow. Thinking that what they see is all there is.

There is a quote I heard somewhere that goes "The optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears this is true." (James Cabell)

I say they're both wrong. There is a world yet to be that is better than any of us has ever seen. One where people lead by example. You know, that old "do unto others" thing?

If you believe that a way of life is the correct one, then live that way. Show people by your example. Let them judge for themselves. Trust the truth to bear itself out. Don't try to force people to behave as you do. Don't threaten them with God's wrath. Don't try to scare them into submission. Be a shining example of your own philosophy. Map out a path and accept any who wish to travel it with you. Welcome questions and debate. Grapple with truth. Seek answers and be willing to change when there is reason to.

Because as the great Shakes' was known to say..."There is more in heaven and earth than is dreamt of in your philosophies"


(take a minute and take a listen)


http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=99557465&m=99557459