“Tell me what shall I do with these hands of mine?” - Dave Gunning

Today, we are observing a holiday to honor the birthday, and the life, of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This is not one of my last 100 Mondays, and I am spending this holiday with my family. I wrote these words, earlier this week, not about my own experiences but about the legacy of wisdom he left us. I find myself thinking of his inspiring words, and I also have the fine song, “These Hands”, by Dave Gunning, running through my mind. Gunning reminds us of the hands, like King’s, that have “held the world together”, and asks what he should do with his own time here. Dr. King tells us that “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy” and that “Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'”

I wonder what Dr. King would think of the last several months, of these first days of this new year, and of the events that are taking place around us? It is a good time to remember what he called us to do. In a letter from a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama, he reminded us that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” There is certainly injustice impacting people throughout our nation and across the political spectrum. While some of the rich and powerful seek to divide us, we must come together to address the real problems in our land and not fall victim to the fact that “Differences have been contrived by outsiders who seek to impose disunity by dividing brothers” as King warned in his commencement address at Oberlin College. There are real divisions contributing to the polarization in this country, but there are also those who have contrived to amplify these differences for their own profit and power.

Today, the basic values and freedoms that make our nation great are threatened by those who would deny justice and equality to some, in order to advance their own power by making false promises to others. They advance the corrupt notion that denying freedom and justice to some will allow them to solve the problems faced by those whose support they have gained with promises they cannot keep, and that would harm our nation if they could.

In his Nobel lecture in December 1964, King warned that “we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.” He spoke of the recent presidential election when “The American people revealed great maturity by overwhelmingly rejecting a presidential candidate who had become identified with extremism, racism, and retrogression”. What would he say to us today?

The day before he was assassinated in 1968, Dr. King spoke in Memphis and told his audience that “the “world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around. That's a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.” As he encouraged non-violent action to achieve the change that was so desperately needed in those days, he called on those who would listen, saying, “Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be.”

I believe that Dr. King would call on us again today to rise up, stand with greater determination, and move on in these days of challenge to make our nation what it ought to be. Looking out at us he would see people of different races, religions, and sexual identities. He would see immigrants, refugees, and Native Americans. He would see the women that make up more than 50% of our population but still earn only 83% as much as men. He would see people who are facing poverty and hopelessness even though their ancestors came, as immigrants and slaves, to this country generations ago and have worked all those generations trying to realize the American Dream for their families. Dr. King might say to us again, "We may all have come from different ships, but we're in the same boat now."  I believe he would remind us that "Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness."

He would call us to come together again, across the chasm that some have contrived to build between us, to oppose injustice and to work for freedom and equality for all. He would remind us that “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter” and encourage us with his wise counsel that "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." He would caution us, as he did his audience in Oslo when he gave his Nobel lecture, that “Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.” I’m sure he would call on us to find a better way, as he did in his Nobel acceptance speech the day before, saying that “Man must evolve for all human conflict a method, which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”

I wonder what new thoughts Dr. King would share with us if only he were still with us, as an 88-year old man, here today. I wonder what new voices will come forward as we struggle to find a way forward that rejects hatred, violence, and division. I will be remembering what Dr. King told us about the key qualities of such a way forward. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” May we remember his wise and inspiring counsel and, together, do the hard work of continuing to increase justice, freedom, and equality for all.

I encourage you to listen to Dave Gunning’s, “These Hands” on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5csvfGqJFqw He’s a wonderful writing and a fine musician. This song is on his album, “No More Pennies”

© 2017 James Michael. The text of this work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0