More Than a Dream

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered not because he preached about a lofty dream but because he changed, fundamentally, the lives of all Americans. His victories cost him his life 18 years ago.

Today we celebrate, for the first time, a national holiday in honor of his birthday. This day would be best spent by practicing what King preached.

He preached nonviolence--a philosophy that is as applicable to everyday life as to great movements for change. It is as simple as trying to like somebody who dislikes you. He challenged unfairness in a diligent and relentless fashion--a mission that, hard as it might seem during this era of self-interest, is not impossible.

King was not a perfect hero. It is easy to imagine that at times he must have been scared. His followers, including children, were being hosed, beaten, jailed and in one instance bombed while in church. He knew that his life had been threatened. Yet he persevered even when his task became dangerous. He refused to hate, and he would not quit his principles.

Parents can practice what King preached by teaching their children what King fought for and how he fought. Most children today don’t know what all the fuss is about.

They didn’t live in the years of the long, grim century after the abolition of slavery--the years in which black Americans were free but by no means equal, less than full citizens by law in the South and by custom in much of the rest of the country. The children never knew the for-whites-only signs and attitudes that barred black Americans from voting booths, jobs, hotels, restaurants, movies--the list was endless.

King fought those injustices with moral and pragmatic strategies. He outlined his four basic steps for any nonviolent campaign in his “Letter From Birmingham City Jail,” an essay worth reading on this, his, holiday. His famous “I Have a Dream” speech is worth listening to today, not just for the poetic metaphors but also for his insistence that this nation live up to the very basic American promises for all citizens.

King’s methods did not die with him. Practicing what he preached is the most fitting tribute to a man who did more than dream.