Happy Martin Luther King Day!
We too often think of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as just "the martyr". We see him in grainy black and white photographs. We have an idea that he knew his activism would lead to his death. We pile upon him our own cares and worries, our own sense of not measuring up.
But Dr. King was much more than that. He was a man. A human being. A husband. A father. He was joyful. He was much more than our need for a dying hero makes him out to be.
We are entering a fraught year. Fascism again beats at this Republic's doors. It is easy to descend into despair. I know I can. Yesterday, I had lunch with the Gaybrarian. And on my way home I sank into a doom fantasy. I wondered how I would be driving the same route, but in a vastly changed country. One where Donald Trump was again president, and where his darkest wishes became reality. I won't lie: it brought me down.
But then, when I got home, and saw my wife and my Hounds of Love, another feeling overtook me: annoyance. Anger. Frustration. And determination.
We are better than them. We are stronger than them. We are more than them. And that was one of Dr. King's central messages. History's arc is long, but it bends towards justice. It bends towards peace. It bends towards humanity.
Do you think Dr. King could have done the work he did, braved the perils he did, if he didn't have that as his lodestar? That the world does improve, that humans become more human?
This is the time that we were made for. Me, and you, and everyone who reads this. This is the work we must do. This is the war we must win. There's no other way around it. And we will win this war. We will do this work. We will accomplish great things because we are called to greatness. Our enemies are called to smallness and bitterness. And that will always lose. We will crush the forces of darkness and reaction, the armies of evil and inhumanity. The time for neutrality is over. The time of mealy-mouthed "purity" is at an end. There are two choices. Two diametrically opposed world views. Our human civilization is at an inflection point. We will be Star Trek, or we will be Mad Max. The time of trudging along is at an end. Because trudging along will engender the latter option. We must grab this moment, seize it, and shape it into the world we want to make. It is our chance to keep the Shadow at bay for the foreseeable future. It is our chance to create a better world and a better people. It is our chance to heal this fragile Creation. For we are all agents of that Creation, whether or not you believe in a creator. Every day we create the world anew by our actions and by our inactions, by the words we say to comfort and to destroy. We are the gods of the universe, the beings with the power to fashion something marvelous, or something horrendous. Never forget that. Those are the stakes for which we play. Dr. King knew that, and he died trying to fashion the marvelous.
How long? Not long. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat. O, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant my feet! Our God is marching on. Glory, hallelujah! Glory, hallelujah! Glory, hallelujah! Glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
On this Martin Luther King Day, don't weep for the dead, but sing a joyful song. Commit yourselves to service of others, however small it may be. Say that you will be the change you seek, and act on it. The power is in our hands. It always has been. That was Dr. King's ultimate lesson.
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