On Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy

Today as I write this, it’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It is the 25th observance of this particular holiday. This is a semi-official holiday, in that the banks, schools, and the government have shut down for the day.

For the rest of us, it’s business as usual. If you’re blessed to have a job outside the above listed...you’re working. I’m working today, and so is my wife. (She’s still only working part-time--she’s not totally healed from surgery--but she’s working today.) 

Somehow, I think the late Dr. King would not be pleased with this. Today of all days, we should take a look at where we are and how far we’ve come.

Except we won’t. But not for the reasons some might give. I see things a bit differently.

There’s still perception problems, I’ll grant you. There is still inequality. But some of that has come back--boomeranged, if you will--to the white male.

Women’s rights have advanced tremendously over the last 25 years, since the first marking of this holiday. African-Americans (or people of color, according to the NAACP person on the radio this morning) have also come quite a ways in the last 30 years.

Meantime, white men are shown on TV and movies to be drunkards, womanizers, and total clods more interested in beer, sports, and certain portions of the female anatomy than anything else. They are shown to be pathetic in their attempts to be hip and/or cool. They can’t parent well, leaving that task to the incredibly super-competent women in their lives. Many of them don’t seem to work hard, if at all. 

I could speak of some stereotyping among the white community as well, looking at people of color. I won’t, however, because that is not what I read when I read Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech.

Let’s take a good look at part of this: 

“Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

What Dr. King envisioned was a place and a time where all people-regardless of their race, color, or gender-could sit down together as the intelligent people God created us to be at the table of fellowship. Not one stereotyping the other, not one trying to be superior to another, but as equal, intelligent children of God, each doing what God called them to do, each fulfilling their unique, God-created role for their individual lives.

In short--to live as equal brothers and sisters, if not in total harmony, at least with charity and understanding. That is his legacy we should stop and consider this day. Not necessarily the man himself...but what his dream was, what he died trying to see the fruit of. Yes, we have come a long way. 

But...there is still so much to do, all the way around. 

Enough for now.

On Thanksgiving 2009

Ah, Thanksgiving. That wonderful respite between Halloween and Christmas, where everyone except the retailers slow down and takes stock of their blessings. (The retailers are simply trying to move their stock.)

We have a lot to be thankful for in the Crandall household. Deena and I are in reasonable health, and we’re both employed. Sure, we’d like a little more in our bank accounts--who doesn’t, right now?--but we have enough. We have friends and family who love us. Life is good, really, when you stop and count your blessings.

We are also thankful that we serve a Risen Lord who loves us as well. He loves us so much He died for us, then rose again. Now that’s something to be thankful for!

Which is really what Thanksgiving is all about. The modern Thanksgiving holiday can trace its origins from a 1621 celebration at the Plymouth Plantation, where the Plymouth settlers held a harvest feast after a highly successful growing season. This is the event that is generally referred to as the "First Thanksgiving." God blessed the fruits of their labor with enough food to survive the winter. The tradition of giving thanks to God is continued today in various forms. Various religious and spiritual organizations offer services and events on Thanksgiving themes the weekend before, the day of, or the weekend after Thanksgiving. During Thanksgiving Day families and friends usually gather for a large meal or dinner. At home, it is a holiday tradition in many families to begin the Thanksgiving dinner by saying grace; ours (Mine and Deena’s) as well as at both sets of parent’s observes this. Then we eat.

In typically American fashion, we as Americans have managed to turn it into a feast day. (As if we needed an excuse to overeat.) And it’s kind of forgotten by too many people, as it’s hard to sell thankfulness.

What are you thankful for? Look past all the stuff, the large amount of food, the excessive amounts of sports on the tube, the overly fast computer you’re reading this from, and take some time to really think about how God Almighty has blessed you and yours this year. Then take some time to give thanks to God for all your blessings (and not just the food in front of you).

Enjoy your time with your families. We will enjoy the time with ours.

Enough for now.