Mention the name Martin Luther King Jr. and you evoke different emotions in the hearts of those that lived through his times, and remember what he lived and died for. For me, he was a hero, and like many of our heroes, he was not a perfect man. He did however possess courage, the courage to stand before the world and peacefully proclaim equality for all people. He was a civil rights leader, but unlike many of today’s so-called “leaders”, he stood for everyone who was downtrodden regardless of race. The world is a better place because Dr. King lived and lent his voice to the voiceless, and provided us a living example, of peacefully righting the wrongs of racial injustice. I remember being a small boy and hearing the words of his “I have a dream” speech. What stood out for me was his challenge to us all to judge each other by the content of our character, and not our skin's melanin content that ironically covers identical bones and organs. As believers in anything, we fail and fall along the way. But if we truly believe in our cause, we get up, dust ourselves off, and continue on our course. Dr. King believed with his life, that he is our shining example to pursue and follow our big dreams. I hope his words and what he stood for the ring in our ears every day, and not just because we have his birthday off as a Holiday. He spoke to all of us, do we have the heart to keep his dream alive, and truly be free within ourselves to dream with our eyes wide open.
