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If the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. were still romping around Alabama today, would his legacy be as potent as it has become in reality? Would he be as universally respected and honored? Probably not, but he would still be around, working to inspire black people and white people alike into living a better life, a life free of the trappings of a racist society which have been passed down to us from our ancestors. These great men, who put their blood, honor, and families on the line for this nation, deserve to be remembered better. I believe that, though the United States constitution contains parts which are deplorable to our modern notions of morality, the men who penned that document did the very best they could considering the time period in which they lived. But I also believe that if they had grown up in our modern society, those same men would be filled with pride at the fact that this country has taken so many incredible steps toward racial equality. For, the real purpose, the core of who we are meant to be as a nation, lies in our ability to improve ourselves. To grow toward a closer depiction of the Kingdom which exists in perfection within so many of our imaginations? But, the society's only as good as the people who make it up. We cannot expect to improve the world, if we cannot improve ourselves first. Any society which we create will only be as good as we make it, there is no perfect model or system, there is only the option to look within and to find the strength to live and be the ideal person which everyone strives to be.
That said, I wish to identify one of the main issues which seems to cause so much societal damage. It is the issue of the fact, that there is a very high mortality rate for people who choose to follow their convictions and do mortal ideological combat with the powers-that-be. This notion permeates and infects the people of this nation in such a way, that they are largely afraid to even say a word against these powers themselves, let alone rally the troops or bark to millions on a radio show. For millennia, humans have watched people rise up and challenge the oppression which governs us; they became heroes and gained followers by the thousands, only to be brutally and painfully snuffed from this world. And the people wouldn’t notice as the governments of history would twist and edit their life stories after they were gone and claim them as their own sons. Revolutionaries and anarchists became saints and prophets and the priest class of the power structure would be their voices after death. And so, the system sustains itself in ugly ways which causes us all to be very uncomfortable and often slightly insane. Why? Because we are a part of the system, we are connected in and have a stake in the system’s quality. Therefore, it is our duty as citizens to work together to make sure that this system is maintained as a place where all people are safe, cared for, and loved and where people are free to grow and learn to love themselves, and to love God.
Martin Luther King is surely one of these radicals. He stepped out and put his neck on the line for the life and health of this nation. The inequality which had characterized us for three centuries was an ugly blight and did not live up to the standards of ideals. We are meant to be free and at peace, instead we had a society in which millions of people were enslaved and oppressed. It was past-time to end it and King had the courage and the passion to take that mortal step, the step into the cross-hairs of powerful forces and competition. Once he did, he assured himself two things: that he would be loved, and that he would be hated. He was able to accomplish so much good, though. It must be worth the risk to confront what’s wrong in our world and work to change it. Martin Luther King’s memory calls us to this, the world is still a place of inequality and torment for millions, and we need to find a way to stop our collective bickering and backbiting, and to become a people again. A people who are willing to set aside their minor differences and work together to accomplish the dreams of Martin Luther King.
~ Martin Luther King Day, 2011
Samuel the Techno Monk
