Excerpt from "Beyond Vietnam," an address by MLK, April 4, 1967.
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. As Arnold Toynbee says: "Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word."
For the entire text, click here.
See what the title means though? MLK is a great American hero ... as long as you don't have to listen to what he actually said and follow it.
This is much like Jesus. Many many say they believe in him, but don't expect them to do what he said ... we don't even get past his first full sermon on loving our enemies before we switch him off.
MLK and Jesus are great icons. But in general, it's still important to us to leave it at that.
Too bad, really.
Posted by: Brad | July 16, 2008 at 06:39 PM
Someone has to point out that
this is nothing less than BRILLIANT!
Thank you.
We should take the time to ponder these things.
Posted by: anonymous | July 16, 2008 at 03:52 PM