One of the people in history that I admire so much is Martin Luther King Jr. I listen to his "I have a dream" speech, (I listen because only then can you hear and feel his passion and commitment and you come away with the sense that this man held nothing back), I read "Why We Can't Wait", about the great non violent protests of the African Americans in 1963, and my heart tells me that this philosophy is one that we need today.
He believed that "nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon which cuts without wounding and enobles the (person) who wields it."
"It is a sword", he said, "that heals."
Of course, he learned from those who came before him: as a deeply devout man, he learned from the lessons that Christ imparted, and he learned from others like Mahatma Gandhi as well. But the unique African American experience in the summer of 1963 coming as it did 100 years after the so-called "emancipation of the slaves", an illusion and a chimera, a mockery for so many, really changed the course of history forever. His belief was that you had to meet physical force with soul force, as this is the far more potent "weapon." And that you had to act now, waiting was not an option.
This came as an epiphany and a reminder for me, especially as we begin a New Year and a New Era for the Earth. Unless we wish to be pulled down into the hatred and malice of the old world, which would be easy to do when we hear stories coming out of India about the horror of the recent murder of a young woman and the degradation of women generally, in India and around the world, unless we wish to be pulled into the sectarian violence of the wars in places like Syria and become a seething roiling sea of hatred as well, we all need to pull ourselves up and look for a higher path towards the resolution of issues like this and others that demand our attention.
Taking no action because of fear is not acceptable, because the world that we leave our children is the one that we create through our thoughts and our actions, or non-actions.
He believed that "nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon which cuts without wounding and enobles the (person) who wields it."
"It is a sword", he said, "that heals."
Of course, he learned from those who came before him: as a deeply devout man, he learned from the lessons that Christ imparted, and he learned from others like Mahatma Gandhi as well. But the unique African American experience in the summer of 1963 coming as it did 100 years after the so-called "emancipation of the slaves", an illusion and a chimera, a mockery for so many, really changed the course of history forever. His belief was that you had to meet physical force with soul force, as this is the far more potent "weapon." And that you had to act now, waiting was not an option.
This came as an epiphany and a reminder for me, especially as we begin a New Year and a New Era for the Earth. Unless we wish to be pulled down into the hatred and malice of the old world, which would be easy to do when we hear stories coming out of India about the horror of the recent murder of a young woman and the degradation of women generally, in India and around the world, unless we wish to be pulled into the sectarian violence of the wars in places like Syria and become a seething roiling sea of hatred as well, we all need to pull ourselves up and look for a higher path towards the resolution of issues like this and others that demand our attention.
Taking no action because of fear is not acceptable, because the world that we leave our children is the one that we create through our thoughts and our actions, or non-actions.