Remembering Dr. King

I’ve been away for a few days, traveling for work. This time I was in Oregon working on a case involving concrete and organic food. There is a nexus, believe it or not. I had a free day on Saturday and I used it to visit the rightly famous Japanese Garden in Washington Park. The fact that it was raining only served to highlight the stark beauty of the garden in winter. Here’s a link to some video I shot that day. Apologies for the shaky camerawork. I was holding an umbrella and it was raining cats and dogs.

I do a lot of traveling for work. Last year I flew 42,000 miles and got to see a lot of interesting corners of the country. One of the cities I landed in last summer was Memphis Tennessee. It is hot there in August. So hot that I almost ended up with heat stroke when I took an ill-advised run along the Mississippi River in late afternoon. While business matters kept me pretty well occupied, on my way back to the airport I decided to take a drive over to the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated. The façade of the Lorraine still looks as it did on the day King was shot, although the inside has been turned into the United States Civil Rights Museum, run by the National Parks Service. When I arrived it was still early in the morning and there were only a few tour buses around. A handful of other tourists were taking turns standing in front of the plaque that marked the spot below the balcony where King was shot. I don’t know whether this observation is really relevant but there were no white people visiting when I was there, only African American schoolchildren and parents with kids in tow. Maybe the racial diversity is more pronounced at other times, I wouldn’t know. What I do know is that the experience of standing under the balcony where King was shot was a powerful and moving experience. Rare is the individual who is willing to die for what he believes in. Rarer still is the individual who is willing to die for his belief that all men are deserving of respect and dignity and are equals in the eye of the creator. The night before he was shot, King made a speech that many regard as prophetic:

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live - a long life; longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Day. We should never forget King’s belief in the ability of nonviolence to effect social change and his commitment to compassion in action.