Tag Archive for Martin Luther King

Let Me Dream

August 28, 2020 Comments Off on Let Me Dream

Starting in November, no matter who we vote in as President, I fervently hope the spirit of Martin Luther King., Jr. rests upon his shoulders and infuses his decisions with the fire to fight violence and its major cause, injustice, in our nation.  I dream that this spirit spreads from our leader to our lawmakers, who will then regain the respect of their constituents, who will, in turn, reject violence in all its dehumanizing forms and embrace justice for all of our citizens.  From there, they will demand justice for all other citizens of the world and pursue it in peaceful, yet effective ways.

This is a huge dream, even a foolishly optimistic one.  But, just imagine–if everyone shared my dream and worked to make it reality, what would our new world look like?

Let me dream.

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Worshiping the God of Hate

February 21, 2020 Comments Off on Worshiping the God of Hate

I switched my Thursday Thought to today because my dog insisted I honor her on yesterday’s National Love Your Pet Day. So, here’s today’s Day-After-Thursday-Thought quote. It struck me because of all the hatred, manipulation, lies, half-truths, and distrust I’m seeing in my world today, especially in my country.

“This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all mankind. We can no longer afford to worship the God of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate.” (From Martin Luther King’s speech “When Silence Is Betrayal,” given at Riverside Church, New York, April 4, 1967.)

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MLK Day–for Children

January 21, 2019 Comments Off on MLK Day–for Children

Today is Martin Luther King., Jr. Day. What’s important is to focus on what he stood for: peace, equality, and justice.

Let’s start with our children. Encourage them to talk instead of fighting when they find themselves in uncomfortable situations. Ask if they’ve been picked on or have seen other children being picked on, and explore the topic of bullying. When a child does something that physically or emotionally harms another child, get him to put himself in that child’s place to experience what she feels, and decide together what positive action, not punishment, is appropriate to heal the situation.

Read children’s books together featuring a person of another culture and talk about the similarities between the character’s life and their life. Engage them in a game that involves taking turns and sharing, adding a penalty rule for arguing and bonus points for compromising and working out differences.

n short, help your kids think and act in ways that help bring about the world MLK worked toward–one of peace and compassion.

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Really, Who WAS this MLK?

April 4, 2018 Comments Off on Really, Who WAS this MLK?

I just learned three things about Martin Luther King, Jr. that I didn’t know but found interesting. I knew that he wasn’t perfect–had some flaws, did some sinning–and that he was the leader that was needed during that part of the history of American social justice.  Here’s what I didn’t know:

  1. He was a champion for the environment. He did it not as a tree-hugger but as a believer in the interconnectedness of all life.
  2. He was a “democratic socialist” (not the same as a communist) long before Bernie Sanders came along.  He preached that we should form the economy in ways that meet people’s needs, not to make a few people richer.
  3. You could disagree with him, but he’d never throw a punch or get nasty.  Even when Malcolm X, another prominent civil rights leader of the time, derided him viciously and called him names.

You can read details about these three facts at CNN’s Three ways MLK speaks to our time.

 

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Handling the Darkside

June 22, 2017 Comments Off on Handling the Darkside

In today’s Thursday Thought quote, MLK  calls us to the bright side.

 

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