Yesterday was the official Martin Luther King, Jr. Day...even though his actual birthday was a week ago. So I don't feel too bad that I'm a little late writing an MLK tribute.
I think of Martin Luther King as one of my heroes. I remember that sad spring in 1968 when it seemed like hope was gone forever...Dr. King was assassinated in April, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June, and the long, unjust war dragged on.
A lot of folks have quoted from his "I have a dream" speech. I'd rather post a quote from his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:
"...I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality...."
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