it had been some time since i last read Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech, so last night i read it again. his words, even when read silently in my head, are louder than million voices. i can’t even imagine what it must have been like to be in the south during the early sixties and actually attend one of his speeches, or to be in washington d.c. when he spoke about his dream. it must have just been surreal.
today, i am sad that we lost this man to an act of violence and ignorance. i am sad that the terrible events he spoke about in his speeches actually happened in the country i grew up in. i am sad that we still have not completely realized his dream.
today i am hopeful that we can yet heal the wounds of America’s past, i am hopeful that ignorance can someday be replaced with tolerance and love, and i am hopeful that we, as simple human beings, will all come together and make tomorrow better than yesterday.
i leave today with the closing of Dr. Kings “I have a dream” speech. his ideals apply today, every bit as much as they did in 1963. it’s always a good time to do the right thing.
“I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
martin luther king jr. was an inspirational man and his speech “i have a dream” has made changes to today’s life!!!!!!!
MLK Jr. was an inspirational man…. I think this is one I the only times I’ve read his speech and actually read it for me and not for an elementary school project. What if he was still here? Thanks for posting! You photography is awesome btw! :)
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