Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: Modern-Day America’s Chief Balancer
His impact on me and his mission to counter balance 'IS-ness' with 'OUGHT-ness'
In my younger days when black history month would roll around year after year, I would often find myself annoyed at how many people and children talked about Dr. King. It was either Dr. King, Malcolm X, or Rosa Parks. I would hear about others, but these three were predominantly in the mix. It seemed like black history in America became solely about the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement certainly transformed America into what we know today but it is not the sum total of black history, which is American history for the record.
Don’t get me wrong these three individuals are to be held in high esteem and studied. But because Black History Month is about educating the country about the historic role of black people in the evolution of the United States, I didn’t want everybody else to only think of these three giants. As I’ve grown and settled more into my own purpose, I’ve become less annoyed. While I still want the world to know more than these three major contributors to the American experiment, I’ve come to realize in recent years how much I have gravitated towards Dr.King.
It’s interesting because it seems like I’ve never not known of him. I was born nine years after his assassination. So I didn’t know of him when he was alive. During my elementary years, I have some distinct memories of the effort to commemorate his birthday with a national holiday. That mission was finally achieved when then President Reagan signed King Day into law on November 2, 1983. I was in first grade. I would look forward to the school announcement every year on his birthday because my school, Nobel Elementary in Gary, Indiana, would play Stevie Wonder’s Happy Birthday, which was specifically written as part of the movement to honor Dr. King in this way.
Growing up my father would play Dr. King’s sermons quite often for as far back as I can remember. Until I began drafting this post, I never asked my dad why he played the sermons so often. I assumed as a fellow preacher perhaps my dad listened for inspiration as he prepared his own sermons. He usually played the records with volume up loud enough for everybody in the house to hear. Over the years, I began to wonder if he played the sermons for his children to hear this great orator and leader knowing that Dr. King’s words would be seeded in our hearts.
Turns out what I thought wasn’t too far off base. I just called my father to ask him about it. My father explained, in short, that it was primarily for his own edification. He admired Dr. King’s depth, commitment to his “fulsome” calling, his oratory skills, how he spoke with national leaders among other things. From a racial standpoint, my dad certainly related to Dr. King. As for ensuring that his children heard this great man speak, my dad said he decided not to be “selfish” with the records. So he played it loud enough for all of us to hear and hoped that we’d come to appreciate Dr. King just the same.
Even though I said earlier that I would be annoyed to only hear about Dr. King, I do believe his words were seeded in my heart early on and those seeds came into fuller bloom as I got older. I especially believe those seeds blossomed more when I attended a King Day event with Andrew Young, the first King Day after Barack Obama was elected President. Andrew Young was a part of Dr. King’s inner circle. He was there that fateful day in Memphis, April 4, 1968. Andrew Young went on to serve in the House of Representatives, serve as UN Ambassador and serve two terms as mayor of Atlanta.
During Ambassador Young’s speech, he compared Dr. King and our newly elected president. Having followed Barack Obama closely, I find our former president very much to be a transformational and transcendent figure. As I listened to Ambassador Young, someone who knew Dr. King so well, draw parallels between Dr. King and Barack Obama, even down to how the two played basketball, the magnitude of Dr. King’s impact and why everybody should know of him seemed much clearer to me. As time would go on, it seems like the words from the sermons my father played were transferred from my subconscious brain to my conscious brain. I became thankful that his widow, Coretta Scott King, worked tirelessly to ensure that her husband’s impact would NOT end with his assassination.
I was grateful to live in Virginia at the time his national memorial park opened in Washington D.C. When I saw the photo of his youngest daughter, Dr. Bernice King, at the memorial park, I knew I had to make my way there.
A few months later, I made it to DC and I went straight to his memorial park. I did not check into my hotel to freshen up. I did not pass GO and I did not collect $200. This was priority #1 on my agenda in DC. Thankfully I found a parking spot right in front of the entrance. I took numerous photographs. Some of which are included below.
Many times while there, I simply stood in place reckoning with his words and trying to imagine how he moved through the world at that time. Having said all of this, I don’t consider myself to be a student of Dr. King. I’m just someone who came to realize, as my dad said, Dr. King’s fulsome calling and how he did not shy away from it. He lost his life at the age of 39, which means the man captivated the world at an even younger age.
His cause was justice but his words were filled with endless truths that go beyond matters of justice. His words answered many questions that I had; his words provide comfort; his words provide inspiration; his words provide direction; his words develop character; his words give thoughtful rebuke; his words changed and continue to change the world; his words impact my daily comings and goings.
His words underpin and affirm the work that I do with Harmonious Balance. I consider him to be modern-day America’s Chief Balancer as his mission was to set America right and put the country in proper alignment. His mission was to counterbalance evil with good; hate with love; darkness with light; discrimination with equality; despair with hope; injustice with justice; fear with faith; division with unity; is-ness with ought-ness.
“I refuse to accept the idea that the ‘isness’ of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal ‘oughtness’ that forever confronts him.”
The mission of Harmonious Balance is cradled in that very idea. Though I will admit that I originally credited my inspiration in part to President Obama’s more plainspoken version and I’m paraphrasing, we shouldn’t settle for the world as it is but make it as it should be.
And the world can be better than it is. The world should be better than it is. The evil that we contend with today is the evil that has always been. It continues to rear its ugly head because we leave the door propped open for it by continuing to overestimate our ability to manage it and underestimate it’s catastrophic potential.
Settling for what is is dangerous. History through Dr. King and others has taught us that over and over again. The next time you feel inclined or resigned to settle for what is, read Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham jail. Let his words illuminate for you how things ought to be and what you ought to do.
Happy Birthday Dr. King!!
Onward to Harmonious Balance,
Johanna
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Thoroughly enjoyed!