Typically on Martin Luther King Day, people are excited to have a day off from work or school, they reflect on his great achievements as a civil rights activists, listen to his famous "I Have A Dream" speech, review his writing, and now most recently share his speeches and famous quotes through social media. While his speeches and quotes are thought-provoking, the deep underlying
messages are a call to action. We need to do more than just reflect; we need to apply. His quotes shouldn't be a matter of reflection but instead a matter of application incorporating morals and values our lives, our society, and most importantly our nation. Somewhere down the road, America took a detour and is now riding along Injustice Blvd. where 99% of the population currently abides, where the middle class is almost nonexistent, college graduates are struggling as they would if they didn't have a degree, elected officials could care less about the economic health of their citizens viewing them as numbers/statistics/profits, and the class warfare runs high with disparities between the rich and poor only getting larger. As a nation, today we celebrate a man who preached principles of love, equality, and justice but the we're failing to apply his messages as we let war, inequality, and injustice run rampant in our foreign, financial/economic, health, and education policies.
Going beyond his quotes and finding the message:
"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Like I've said in previous blog posts, we have a tendency to obsess over things which do not necessarily directly affect us, the stability of our livelihoods, and our society as a whole. While it's okay to watch Entertainment television for reality shows, it shouldn't take so much priority in your life that you forget to watch the news and keep yourself updated on what is going on around you. Justice can't thrive without a solid foundation, and that foundation cannot be built on ignorance. Our concerns have to reach a higher level. That higher level being not which just affects us but what will affect everyone around me and even those who I do not know. Dr. King wasn't only concerned about racism against him and his family, but racism as a whole and how it affected the African-American population. The power of an individual is stronger than most people know. It doesn't begin with just choosing a president every four years; it begins within us. That we make sure our president has the best interests of not only the 1% but America's 99% at heart and will place the victims of economic injustice as top priority. It also starts with making sure our elected officials in Congress and our state governments are passing bills which will positively affect and advance our economy, healthcare, and education.
"A nation that continues 2 spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."
We're currently living in a nation which has given an exorbitant amount of bailout money to banks and financial institutions, which through corrupted ethics drove us into this economic state we are currently in. We're currently living in a nation which can easily pour billions of dollars on military defense making sure that our army continues to be the strongest all the while trimming the budgets of healthcare for women and children, education for college and graduate students, and medical care for the elderly. It speaks volumes when a nation would rather advance the military than children with promising futures at stake.
"When we take a look at modern man,
we are forced to face the fact
that modern man suffers
from a poverty of the spirit
that stands in glaring contrast
to his scientific and technological abundance.
We've learned to fly the air like birds,
we've learned to swim the seas like fish
and yet we haven't learned
to walk the earth as brothers and sisters" -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We may have advanced as far as technology is concerned, but we haven't advanced as far as our morals and values are concerned. Our nation's priorities haven't advanced. We would like to think our fancy gadgets have transformed us into a high powered society but we aren't. Our concerns are still individualistic in nature. Our nation sees its people as numbers and not as real human beings who have a basic right to a good life, good education, good job/career, and good and stable living conditions. We're experts on the internet, technology, and science but we aren't experts on what should matter most as that is humanity. Do we even know what we're fighting to live for anymore? That's what Dr. King has been trying to get us to ultimately ask ourselves. Who or what are you fighting for? We need to fight for humanity and a society that is based on equality, built on justice, and courageous enough to take the nonviolent route and restore peace. Our current nightmare is financial. Economic justice should be our new dream which we need to make a reality. If we can still honor him decades later, than we should at least strive to not only preach his principles but use them to direct and guide us to a better living for all Americans.
Videos!
Two powerful, inspiring minutes of an excerpt of a speech which is never quoted!
The famous "I have a dream" speech
Dont forget!
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Email: justiceisbliss@gmail.com
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