Monday, January 21, 2008

One Clear Voice

Today as many of you may know it is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and as I was given this day off of work I thought I better pay a tribute to this great man who has served as an inspiration to millions. Last night I listened to his speech and this section of his speech really touched me. I hope that it may inspire something within you.


"I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."*
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring...


And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
*Isaiah 40:4-5 (King James Version)

2 comments:

Mommadriver said...

Very inspiring. It always makes me sad to think that good and great men such as Martin Luther King are not allowed to live longer on this earth...They say the good die young...too true in this case.

Love Mom

Anonymous said...

Thanks for writing this.