I invite you to listen to these words. I ask you to consider these words.
Specifically, please consider their relevance to our current state of affairs.
Truth and wisdom are timeless.
Tragically, Dr. King's wise words need only very minor changes in order to bring them up to date.
A of the many reasons Dr. King is one of my heroes is that his words are timeless and his wisdom is limitless.
I find such hope in the fact that 2008 brings American's the choice between two Presidential candidates possessing integrity and wisdom, and who just happen to be a woman and a black man. Why is this even remotely an issue?
The state of journalism and the media?
Any journalist who even touches upon these characteristics reveals him/herself to be tragically ignorant and discredits him/herself..
Can they not inquire into the candidate's values, priorities, and aspirations instead?
Please.
Can we demand that our long ignored opinions (and votes) cease to be ignored or nullified?
Let us please consider the words of Thomas Jefferson in our own Declaration of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."
The 19th Amendment to to Constitution (horribly overdue) awarded equal rights to women.
Previously, Abraham Lincoln had ruled out the injustice of slavery in his written word:
"That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any state, or designated part of a state, the people whereof thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States [including the military and naval authority thereof] will, during the continuance in office of the present incumbents, recognize [and maintain the freedom of] such persons, as being free, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
I do not understand why race and gender are even issues.
Ha! I wonder who will be the first gay (Presidential) candidate and what "shock and awe" will they encounter?
We still desperately search to find an individual who can express the truth and wisdom found in the words of America's Patriot Minister, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."
I wish good riddance to the misguided men of 2000-2008. I am still dumbfounded that such a cowardly man as Dick Cheney will never have to answer for his actions.
At least this presidency has a common theme: lack of accountability.
So after you finish listening to Dr. King' speech, I offer you the hopeful voice of Donny Hathaway. Please listen.