The State of the Dream
One of the social rules most parents teach their children early in life is to share. Share your toys, share your snacks, share the crayons, and the swing at the playground. At a very young age, most children learn that sharing is how people show they care about each other.
But then, as we age into our teen years and adulthood, something changes. We stop sharing with others as much as we did before. Instead, sharing becomes something we mostly do with the people we know and love. Friends, coworkers, family.
We become more tribal, and some endeavor to deny the rights, they enjoy, to others. Whether based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and any other labels they don’t like.
You don’t have to dig deep into the laws of most countries to find legislation that either favors one group over another or attempts to rectify past wrongs the group in power has done to a minority. In America, civil rights legislation is a glaring example of people’s unwillingness to share.
Today, many celebrate the birth of a man who spent the latter part of his life fighting for equal rights for all. The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. Whose “I Have a Dream” speech still reverberates in the hearts and minds of those who yearn to live free of legal discrimination. Not only in America, but around the world.
I ask you. Almost sixty years later, what is the state of Martin Luther King Jr’s dream in America today? The day we celebrate his birthday. Is it a reality, or is it still a dream?
We have integrated schools. Integrated lunch counters. But are we an integrated people sharing equally in America’s rights and freedoms?
Whether you agreed with his politics or his methods, have we achieved the core message he outlined at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on that fateful August day in 1963? Which was, if our republic is to survive, we must share it. And ensure freedom, equality, and justice for all.
Just something to reflect on. Thanks for listening.
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