What is This Holiday All About?

Last updated on: January 18, 2014 at 4:40 am by Greg Richardson

What is This Holiday All About? 2014-01-18T04:40:34-08:00 Greg Richardson

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This holiday is not about having a three-day weekend in January.

This is not a holiday exclusively for African-Americans, or people who grew up in the 1960s. This holiday is not about dreamers, or about smoothing over differences between people. It is not a holiday about being nice to people no matter what they look like.

“I know where we can store that food free of charge — in the wrinkled stomachs of the millions of God’s children in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and even in our own nation, who go to bed hungry at night.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a contemplative activist. He is the only African-American, and the only member of the clergy, for whom the United Staes has a national holiday.

He was the first African-American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He put the principles of nonviolent action he studied in graduate school into practice to change how the world works.

This is a holiday about changing the world.

“Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak.”

He was not a perfect person. His actions did not always reflect his words.

He had a passion for justice, and a passion for putting ideas into practice.

Six months after he had received his doctorate, at the age of 26, he was asked to lead the organization supporting a boycott of segregated public transportation in Montgomery, Alabama. His leadership and ability to communicate the values of the boycott brought him to prominence.

“Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that.”

What is this holiday about for you?

How will you celebrate the holiday, and the life of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.?

[Image by ash_crow]

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