Spring Break
Dr. King's message of peace survives
Matt Schirano
Issue date: 1/18/08 Section: Ed-Op
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has once again passed us Jan. 15, and the national holiday in honor of him is Jan. 21, the third Monday of the month.
His impact on our society is incalculable, and to try and measure his influence would be to undervalue his message.
He was a man of extraordinary vision, and also of a positively overwhelming determination to overcome what many of us see as an irreversibly jaded and corrupt world.
I believe the best way to honor Dr. King is to reflect on his message. Listen to some of his speeches, read some literature on the man. We should all try to gain a new or more refined perspective on the most intellectually intriguing figures of the last century.
As we grow we experience more of this reality we call life and Dr. King stops being just a man who fought for civil rights.
He's a man who believed in an all-encompassing racial harmony that was the first step towards a vision of a peaceful society based on respect, tolerance, and cooperation.
"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."
This is profound because like President Eisenhower, Dr. King saw the impending doom that results from the military-industrial complex.
It's also a perfect example of how his views are not reducible only to racial issues. The Department of Defense's 2007 base budget was $401 billion, and the Education Department has a total budget of $67.2 billion annually. You see that discrepancy? What really are our priorities?
"On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' And Vanity comes along and asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But Conscience asks the question 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right."
His impact on our society is incalculable, and to try and measure his influence would be to undervalue his message.
He was a man of extraordinary vision, and also of a positively overwhelming determination to overcome what many of us see as an irreversibly jaded and corrupt world.
I believe the best way to honor Dr. King is to reflect on his message. Listen to some of his speeches, read some literature on the man. We should all try to gain a new or more refined perspective on the most intellectually intriguing figures of the last century.
As we grow we experience more of this reality we call life and Dr. King stops being just a man who fought for civil rights.
He's a man who believed in an all-encompassing racial harmony that was the first step towards a vision of a peaceful society based on respect, tolerance, and cooperation.
"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."
This is profound because like President Eisenhower, Dr. King saw the impending doom that results from the military-industrial complex.
It's also a perfect example of how his views are not reducible only to racial issues. The Department of Defense's 2007 base budget was $401 billion, and the Education Department has a total budget of $67.2 billion annually. You see that discrepancy? What really are our priorities?
"On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' And Vanity comes along and asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But Conscience asks the question 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right."
Be the first to comment on this story