Middle East Peace Quilt**
(quote in heading and those below are from a sermon entitled: "Dreams and Possibilities" given Sunday am 15 January 2012)
"A life of fear is no life at all."
"A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right...for justice..."
"Without a vision there's no future...only repitition of the past."
"We can evolve only if we know what we're evolving to..."
"It takes no effort to despair."
MLK...had a great imagination.
Quotes from this sermon included Goethe, Kant, and an expert on Aphasia -- people who are limited in communicating and imagination.
I highly recommend the following link to Ernie Mills' sermon/reflection as one of the most powerful and uplifting on Martin Luther King (or anyone else) ever spoken in my home town. Not only does this personal talk include MLK's vision for a world minus racism, hate and hopelessness - other poignant quotes from other visionaries are offered as well.
Each of the points made by Mills can be so easily applied TODAY to our nation and world and related to racism of ALL kinds whether to a person's skin, citizenship, religion, nation of origin, gender, struggle, age and so much more. (For example, Mills brings up-to-date a text King used to condemn the careless bombing in Vietnam -- by simply adding the name of our various current wars).
After a needed yet sobering couple of weeks many of us spent exposing our nation's treatment of people detained in Guantanamo -- this visionary speech offers possibilities of change and the needed energy to carry out a better future.
Ernie Mills heard a famous MLK speech in 1973 -- five years after it was first delivered...
To hear how MLK's speech "I Have a Dream" helped transform the life of one young American -- formerly a self-admitted racist -- GO here
Ernie is a longtime friend of mine and as I told him - he's spent years doing the homework which led to this superlative talk.
The opposite of a doomsday talk, at the end Ernie said with conviction, "The possibilities" for change "are infinite."
Civil Rights Memorial Museum Montgomery, Alabama
**quilt above chosen because it's a serene symbol for finding peace among groups of all kinds. I found the photo here
Let us bend our work toward peace...
5 comments:
Another example of racism from which US citizens (including many "bible-believing" Christians) need confession and change NOW:
http://nomorecrusades.blogspot.com/2012/01/palestine-israel-20-basic-historical.html
I would have loved to be at the talk, and witness it first hand !
I have seen Martin Luther King, so many times delivering a speech in hollywood movies, in the context of his struggle for freedom.
He still has an aura and energy that is extremely powerful.
I like the idea of expanding the concept of racism to include discrimination of various kinds, and one which I would particularly like to be listed is discrimination on the basis of educational background.
Thank You for your comment Faraz and your response of engagement with the energy of this speech.
Shafique Sahib,
I concur with you that racism includes discrimination on the basis of educational background. Even in my current reading, this theme is so prevalent.
Thus, study of the poets such as Rumi, Hafiz and other Persian poets are a breath of fresh air as they cut through so effectively to what matters least and most in any culture or time.
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