I don't remember where I was when I heard that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been killed.
I was but eight years-old.
My life at that time was filled with forest and meadow wanderings, playing with toy trucks in the dirt and suffering the confines of a public school's fourth grade learning criteria.
What I remember promptly about the time of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assasination are the images and words that played on television shows and appeared in "Life" magazine right after.
I remember my mother choking up about it.
I remember town folk who would become stoically quiet and hang their heads at the mention of it.
I remember that one or two people would often gasp and/or tear up.
I remember our minister talking sadly about it from the Sunday pulpit.
I never saw anyone smile, nor heard anyone cheer at a mention; not that there weren't some of those types of people living in my area. I did hear a couple of people apathetically or callously say: "Who cares?"
I remember thinking a lot about it; and I remember thinking it was wrong for someone to be killed for the color of their skin, or for expressing ideas in words, or for protesting against the way American society was running. His assasination seemed wholly un-American.
All the tumult of The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s came to my 1968 life through the insulation of media presentations and those snatches of adult conversations which all curious small children end up overhearing.
The family of my youthful raising were socially conscious, progressive conservatives, who believed that ALL human beings are the children of God.
Having the temerity to intrude on one discussion I was overhearing, a significant family figure asked me, "Would you judge a person solely by the color of their hair?"
To which I replied, "No. Of course not. That would just be silly."
Too which they nodded favorably.
I heard Barack Obama give a speech today.
One thing he said that really struck me was:
"We all have a stake in each other."
I thought Barack was quoting Dr. King, but a quick search through a couple of handy copies of Dr. King's speeches could not verify this.
If the statement is Barack's own, he has struck on yet another Great catch phrase.
"We all have a stake in each other."
... is a sentiment I grew up learning, and an attitude I have towards being.
If I AND my neighbor are doing well, then everything feels right in the world. If I, OR my neighbor, are doing well while the other is suffering, then something is not right in the world, and we should both work doggedly towards fixing whatever is wrong...
... for the sake of our combined humanity.
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Dedicated to the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
1929 - 1968
In honor of the sacrifice he made
in hoisting one of salvation's lights aloft
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04 April 2008
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Bill's Spirit is an Artist, Writer, Poet, Philosopher currently wordsmithing from a humble digital forge in small town Ohio.
The works of the man behind Bill's Spirit have been published in small alternative and amateur presses since 1986. Before that, they just filled notebooks, decorated walls and gathered dust in piles and boxes.
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Comments: 16
Yes - we do indeed have a stake in each other, it is becoming more evident as each day passes by. You write from the heart and it touched my heart. Thanks
I was three when JFK was assassinated.
It was finding a complete copy of a local newspaper with the headline kept safely under my mother's clothes in a dresser drawer that I remember impacting me.
Obviously, I was still eight when RFK was killed. That third assassination, combined with the regular broadcasting of news footage showing unarmed protesters (both civil rights, war and hippies) being beaten, had me wondering what kind of world I was going to grow into. Where was that beneficent, idealogical government and society that my scout leaders, local ministers and public school teachers espoused?
Renda - Thanks. I TOTALLY Agree !!
Ed H. - Glad you liked. :-)
Jai S. - Good to here from you, Jai. I have recently been practicing taking breaks from Gathering myself.
America has always been a very dynamic nation.
I just don't understand why people can't look at our history, and focus on all those times where the nation did best when everyone was doing best. Like how when wealthy industrialists really did pay workers top wages and benefits -- as well as help organize and pay for community improvment projects such as libraries, theaters, hospitals parks, museums and community halls -- that the products made by those workers were hailed across the nation and globe.
Whenever people appreciate going to work, AND appreciate their employer, wherever people feel they live well in exchange for their labor, their production is most often stellar.
Smart bosses have, and still could, reap mighty tidy profits from inspiring such performance from Americans. It's a tried and true investment strategy.
Carol Lloyd - What a memory to have. I'll bet it was also frightening and sobering. Thank God we aren't at that level of civil unrest right now.
Ann Weaver Hart - Thanks!
This does have the spirit of MLK, Jr.'s message.
Progress will depend on understanding it, too.