Four COLORLESS things I learned from Martin Luther King Jr.

The emotion in his voice.  The honesty in his face.  And the ability to take us to his vision

with his words.  Imagine what people could see when they were standing there listening to him.  Their world was segregated.  People could die for cross-cultural love.  Heck, they could die for cross-cultural glances.  No matter what the naysayers think, this world is far more open than the world of Martin Luther King Jr.  I’m not white, so there are many things I can relate to on this day.  The injustices and the benefits of being ME.  But there are some basic HUMAN principles about this amazing and influential person that anyone can learn from, concepts that have nothing to do with the color of your skin, and in honor of this day, I’m writing about four.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day!

1. If I believe it, it’s my job to create the vision.  MLK Jr. had a vision, an insight into the value of human beings.  In a skin-deep world, he saw beyond the color of the covering to the similarity of the internal.  I’m sure there were many people who saw what he saw.   It’s not really so revolutionary.  He didn’t leave the message for the next, braver guy next in line.  It was his job to help us understand what he saw and he did with passion and creativity.  He had the vision, so he promoted it.  It’s easy to use a lack of faith in others as an excuse for NOT pursuing your dream.  You don’t know if you will be hurt if you pursue love.  You don’t know if you will be left penniless if
2. Love is more powerful than desperation.  This is not my thing, to be honest.  I was a survivor, even from birth, almost dead after 24 hours of labor. I  tend to do more striving than loving.  Yet, he spoke of something different, a responsibility to love others into change.  He saw hatred and the desperation that went along with it as a burden.  In the same way, he viewed love and the activities that go along with love as the most powerful element this side of heaven.
3. It doesn’t matter if it’s hard.  Visions are easily thrown away because of perceived difficulty.  A woman loves a man, but fears she will be hurt and breaks it off.  The cause gets messy and the “normal people” begin to back away.  Martin Luther King Jr. did not back away because his vision was hard.  In fact, there was nothing easy about what he proposed.  On one side, he challenged the cultural norm in wanting all people to have the same social rights.  On the other side, his brothers were not all on board with the peaceful methods he proposed.  Personally, I’m glad he didn’t run away from the difficulty, aren’t you?
4. It’s cool to show your passion.  Every time I watch the famous “I Have a Dream” speech, in fact whenever I watch Martin Luther King Jr speak, I feel tears well up.  His eyes were so fiery, his choice of words so poetic, he allowed us to peek into the vision he saw every day.  Did the people in the audience know what they were watching?  A real man, a man who was not afraid to get excited about what he knew was right?  Today, politicians can be discounted for “getting excited.”  We are collectively jaded and cautious of showing our passions.  I think it’s cooler to wear your excitement on your sleeve.

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