(This was the one that got my mom to take notice of my writing, and it's on my personal short list of "best notes I've ever written").
So I got this idea while I was writing the last note...thought that I'd write too much for it to be one of the ~20 topics in that note, so here I am talking about it now. I thought about my interest in seeing the msnbc special with Chris Matthews and Tom Joyner on Monday. I also thought about what Monday is and what Monday represents - mainly thought about the fact that those are two different things. I think most people blur those two things and don't fully observe the holiday as a result. People celebrate the man, which I will never argue with. What people don't do (enough) is celebrate the actions, the ideas, the cause, the movement.
Now when I say 'the movement' I don't necessarily mean the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was bigger than Dr. King (another fact lost on - or in - the masses, but that's another topic). At the same time, certain elements of Dr. King's movement lived outside the Civil Rights Movement. There is obvious overlap, but the Civil Rights Movement and Dr. King's movement have differences. Since Monday is not "Civil Rights Day", I will focus on Dr. King's movement. King said in his 'Beyond Vietnam' speech that he wanted "to see the fervor of the civil rights movement imbued into the peace movement " and that "everyone has a duty to be involved in both the civil-rights and peace movements". King obviously saw the movements as different and felt himself to be deeply involved in both. As such, I consider his movement to be a hybrid of the two. There was another element of his movement as well: King believed in the elevation of America's moral fiber, which he felt would result from the civil rights movement via the peace movement. King placed a higher priority on the peace movement than the civil rights movement. He knew that equality would not come through violence. He also knew that being pacific was not the same thing as being passive. He knew it would take a stronger effort to achieve equality through peaceful means than pugilistic means. He knew that it was all about controlling thoughts (all war does is change thought through violent means). Because he knew all these things, he was able to incorporate these different ideas and act with a singular focus across different social problems. The masses think he had a dream. It was much more than that: he had a plan. He had an extremely well thought-out plan: one that combined psychology, sociology, religion, and philosophy. It also contained political science and economics. The man wasn't a dreamer, he was a genius. He was a social icon. He was every bit the historical figure that we claim him as - and even more importantly, he had a legacy and vision that serve as models which we would all do well to follow in the future.
And now to get (back) to what I really meant to talk about...so much of the holiday focus is on the man. As I said previously, I have no problem with that part of the equation. My issue is that it often comes at the expense of the ideals he stood for, the things he fought (obviously, I'm speaking metaphorically) for...things that are much bigger than him, much bigger than any of us. Social justice, equality, peace, character: these are things that held humanity together before we got here and will hold humanity together after we're gone. Dr. King held these ideals in higher priority than he did his own life, and now we seemingly do the opposite. How is it that we honor his life instead of the things he lived for? I think we - individually and collectively - would be much better off if we promoted the ideals a little more and celebrated the man just a little bit less. I think he'd want it that way. He didn't work to increase his own profile, but that's what we're doing. It's one thing to remember the man. It's another thing to read the speeches (a practice I started a few years back). However, we step into an entirely different realm when we take the ideas, own them, and put them into practice for the betterment of ourselves and all those around us. When we promote social justice, act as equals, peacefully interact with one another, and exercise character when choosing words and actions, we set a higher bar for ourselves and for those who come after us. We create a higher standard. We establish a higher level to which humanity can evolve, and we inspire future generations to do the same. We work toward making the promised land that Dr. King spoke of into a guarantee...into a reality.
If we do what he did - if we live for more than just ourselves, if we serve to advance these ideals rather than have the ideals serve to advance us - we can reach our full potential (although I hope we would eventually realize that there is no such thing as full potential: full potential is limited potential and we're better than that). The reason we celebrate him now is that he believed in and worked for causes bigger than himself. Emulating him, rather than celebrating him, would now be the better way to observe his legacy and further his vision.
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