Quotes of Martin Luther King Jr effect us different over time

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

We all know this quote by Martin Luther King Jr. The famous line from the I Have a Dream speech. I know it was the first one that I truly knew. For many people I fear it's the only one. It's the thesis in some ways of his ideas but it's not the full scope.

For me my deeper understanding of the man came with reading through some of Strength to Love. I came across the quote that's stuck with me the most. 

“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

It hit me like a ton of bricks when I first read it. It was Christlike love. It was the golden rule. As I began to understand his commitment to non-violence it made even more sense. Him and Gandhi were on to something. Using non-violence allowed it's light to shine even more. The longer I sat with that philosophy the more I felt uneasy at changes in the political and social landscape still occurring. 

It was during the lead up to my mission that I was exposed to another quote that burned in me.

“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the White moderate who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice.”

It was from an address of MLK in the Birmingham Jail. At first it bothered me but I pushed it aside. I didn't know of any racial issues that were occurring in 2007 and 2008. I was absolved. Then I got on my mission. I saw prop 8 in California and a similar prop in Arizona. I realized that something didn't sit right when it came to the treatment and access to rights of the LGBT community. Then I saw the blatant racism and animosity toward the Latino community. I saw their struggle for immigration and rights. I had to leave Arizona for Michigan and saw racism I had only heard about in High School. I saw generational and economical disparities. I couldn't reconcile it with my lived experience at the time. I also listened to blatant racism against the Lebanese and other Muslim immigrants in Michigan from fellow missionaries.

Now I couldn't reconcile my new lived experience with the old. I couldn't reconcile it with the words of Christ in Matthew, "if you have done it to the least of these, you have done it unto me."

I kept reading and learning. Over my military career I was stagnant at times in my actions but not in my deepening knowledge and understanding. I was confronted with more racism, more injustices in our own nation. The promises of the constitution I'd sworn to uphold were not even applied. 

It was hard. But a motivation came from this quote, one I still use all the time. 

“Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.”

I want to make that world. So I work with vets, I participate in LGBT outreach, other anti-discriminatory work in my workplace and community. And I studied. 

I went to learn about psychology and political science. That undergrad is almost complete. Just delayed at times for on the job training. But during that course of study I was exposed to Gordon Allport and his work on prejudice. I spent a lot of time looking at the psychology of it, of prejudice and it's impact in the modern context. How to confront it. 

I did a major project I'll link the research to here. There has been more than we often are aware of.

There's so much work to do. And I'm energized about it. I want to do more and we all can do more. This year I feel I'm in a place to do that. To continue the movement forward.

I'm in a place where I will never be as effected as others by these prejudices, that makes it even more imperative to do something. 

So this January Monday I'm going to really dig into what I can do. For me, my family, community, and humanity. We can step past the focus on the dream and focus on the doing. 

He gave us the road map. In a speech to Stanford which is often referenced for a quote on riots he said. 

"Now, let me go on to say that, if we are to deal with all of the problems that I’ve talked about, that we are to bring America to the point that we have one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, there are certain things that we must do. The job ahead must be massive and positive. We must develop massive action programs all over the United States of America, in order to deal with the problems that I have mentioned."

He would lay out those social programs in various ways over the years. I think that's the part of the legacy I can look at now. I can see where programs are needed to be formed, shored up, and supported. That's what I can do now.

He had a dream. It's time to do my part.