I'm a day late, but hopefully not a dollar short. I wanted to do a brief post on Martin Luther King Jr., a true hero and a figure that still provides inspirations 3 plus decades after his death.
I can think of no better way to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr. than to listen to his words. I'm not sure there is anything more powerful or musical than King's greatest speeches. These speeches still give me chills, the same feeling I had hearing them in the second or third grade for the first time. I wanted to highlight one in particular, the one he gave in Memphis the day before his death, the "I've Been To The Mountaintop" speech. It was a speech in support of the striking janitors of the city, a cause that was very dear to King in the last months of his life. For me, it's his greatest speech, a dark, nearly apocalyptic message, where King eerily talks about the fact that he may not see the new world he is fighting for, but that we will get there. In spite of the darkness, there's a hope and joy at its heart, like the best blues songs. Read the full text here, then give it a listen at the video below:
I'm not going to ruin that with my own words, just want to simply say that this gives me hope like little else, that we can make it through the dark times.
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