The Best We Can Hope For
I read this week's Sunday edition of the New York Times today. (Yes, it is Monday.) I think - as always - I was fated to read it today.
The Best We Can Hope For
These five words jumped off the cover page of the Week in Review section. They were, of course, in a headline-sized font, but they stuck out to me today because today is a day we honor more than the best Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., hoped for. We honor the vision, the dream, the reality of his life's work.
As I began to read the article, I learned that the inspiration these five words would leave me with would certainly not come as a result of their context. In the article these five words represented President Bush's new, improved, and seemingly foolproof strategy for the war in Iraq.
Gone are the days when VICTORY and JUSTICE and FREEDOM are at the forefront of our goals. Gone are the days when bringing EQUITY to a place plagued with violence, injustice, rape and murder is the priority. Gone are the days when restoring PEACE is the only acceptable replacement for unrest.
It appears to me - from these five single-syllable words - that if we are just hoping for the best, we are forgetting the powerful statements given by Dr. King on August 28, 1963, and undermining the legacy that he has entrusted each and every one of us with. Black, white, male, female, young, old, on American soil or abroad, we all have a responsibility to reach for victory, not just to hope for the best. It appears to me that if our goal is the best we can hope for, if we are not assuming this responsibility, we are succumbing to the belief that the bank of justice is bankrupt. Affirming that would destroy the already fragile world we live in.
I labored over that thought for most of the afternoon and early evening. I even visited the memorial to Dr. King at Yerba Buena Garden in San Francisco's Mission District. I hoped the memorial, an extravagant granite waterfall representative of Dr. King's metaphorical flow of justice, would bestow some wisdom as I anticipated writing later this evening.
As I walked around and behind the waterfall, I felt a trickle of water drip down my cheek, flowing to the bottom of my face, and I watched as it fell to the ground. Gravity determined its final destination. I realized then, that our final destination, our future, the future of our world, is not in the hands of some scientific force. The VICTORY we desire to see, to feel, to touch, to experience comes by means of our force.
We - black, white, male, female, young, old, on American soil or abroad - are the catalysts for a world greater than the best we can hope for, and I firmly believe that this movement of positive change begins within.
If we are not living each and every day consciously working toward inner PEACE, we will lose the very aggressive battle against emotional bankruptcy our media-driven and -focused society assails us with. If we are not humbling ourselves to honest self-scrutiny, we will never be able to abandon the shackles of self-addition, never authentically experience FREEDOM. If we are not embodying the Golden Rule, not granting ourselves the same unconditional love and grace we so willingly give to others, we will never truly know how to be JUST. And if we do not consider ourselves EQUALS, how can we possibly hope for better than the best we can hope for? How can we impact, empower, inspire, add value to our family and friends, our colleagues, our communities, our world?
Mahatma Gandhi did not say to HOPE for the change you want to see in the world. He said "BE the change you want to see in the world." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. lived and died for the change he yearned to witness. He was a revolutionary leader. Each of us has this same power. How we use it is up to us.
The Best We Can Hope For
These five words jumped off the cover page of the Week in Review section. They were, of course, in a headline-sized font, but they stuck out to me today because today is a day we honor more than the best Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., hoped for. We honor the vision, the dream, the reality of his life's work.
As I began to read the article, I learned that the inspiration these five words would leave me with would certainly not come as a result of their context. In the article these five words represented President Bush's new, improved, and seemingly foolproof strategy for the war in Iraq.
Gone are the days when VICTORY and JUSTICE and FREEDOM are at the forefront of our goals. Gone are the days when bringing EQUITY to a place plagued with violence, injustice, rape and murder is the priority. Gone are the days when restoring PEACE is the only acceptable replacement for unrest.
It appears to me - from these five single-syllable words - that if we are just hoping for the best, we are forgetting the powerful statements given by Dr. King on August 28, 1963, and undermining the legacy that he has entrusted each and every one of us with. Black, white, male, female, young, old, on American soil or abroad, we all have a responsibility to reach for victory, not just to hope for the best. It appears to me that if our goal is the best we can hope for, if we are not assuming this responsibility, we are succumbing to the belief that the bank of justice is bankrupt. Affirming that would destroy the already fragile world we live in.
I labored over that thought for most of the afternoon and early evening. I even visited the memorial to Dr. King at Yerba Buena Garden in San Francisco's Mission District. I hoped the memorial, an extravagant granite waterfall representative of Dr. King's metaphorical flow of justice, would bestow some wisdom as I anticipated writing later this evening.
As I walked around and behind the waterfall, I felt a trickle of water drip down my cheek, flowing to the bottom of my face, and I watched as it fell to the ground. Gravity determined its final destination. I realized then, that our final destination, our future, the future of our world, is not in the hands of some scientific force. The VICTORY we desire to see, to feel, to touch, to experience comes by means of our force.
We - black, white, male, female, young, old, on American soil or abroad - are the catalysts for a world greater than the best we can hope for, and I firmly believe that this movement of positive change begins within.
If we are not living each and every day consciously working toward inner PEACE, we will lose the very aggressive battle against emotional bankruptcy our media-driven and -focused society assails us with. If we are not humbling ourselves to honest self-scrutiny, we will never be able to abandon the shackles of self-addition, never authentically experience FREEDOM. If we are not embodying the Golden Rule, not granting ourselves the same unconditional love and grace we so willingly give to others, we will never truly know how to be JUST. And if we do not consider ourselves EQUALS, how can we possibly hope for better than the best we can hope for? How can we impact, empower, inspire, add value to our family and friends, our colleagues, our communities, our world?
Mahatma Gandhi did not say to HOPE for the change you want to see in the world. He said "BE the change you want to see in the world." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. lived and died for the change he yearned to witness. He was a revolutionary leader. Each of us has this same power. How we use it is up to us.
posted by Leslie Garner at 11:17 PM
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