Hope

The dawn of a new day is always cause for hope. The fears and worries of the dark of night are banished by the first rays of the rising sun. When they bounce off the clouds in reflections of such delicate pink, they seem particularly hopeful.

Today is Martin Luther King Day in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr, who led a non-violent movement to achieve equal equality for African'Americans in the United States. He is the only non-president to have a national holiday dedicated in his honor. He was born on January 15, 1929, and assassinated April 4th , 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. His body was returned to his hometown, Atlanta, Georgia, where, like the late Nelson Mandela, his funeral was attended by leaders of all races and political stripes.

I grew up in the era of the civil rights movement and admired Dr King for his leadership in a struggle which often appeared hopeless. His assassination came just a few years after that of President Kennedy and presaged, by only a couple of months, that of Kennedy's brother, Bobby. It was a dark and devastating time. King's non-violent leadership and his moving oratory set him apart from other freedom fighters, and led to the passage of the Civil Rights Law under President Lyndon Johnson.

There was little in the paper this morning about Martin Luther King (eclipsed by the front page story of the Forty Niners' loss to Seattle in the playoffs yesterday) so I started reading on my own through some of his famous quotes. There were many, but the one that inspired me was from a senior at Maria Carillo High School here in Santa Rosa. In his winning speech in in the annual Martin Luther King, Jr oratory contest last week he said,

"Non-violence means not only avoiding physical violence, but also internal violence of the spirit."
-William Singleton

In the end, fighting violence comes down to each one of us, and it is my hope that we can all search our souls and try to practice "non-violence of the spirit". Seems like the best possible place to start....