King's
Legacy
“We
must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid
of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some
good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we
discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”
Martin
Luther King, Jr.
There
is a scene in the Batman movie, The Dark Knight, in which
Bruce Wayne is talking with his butler, Alfred Pennyworth. Wayne is
trying to figure out what the despicable Joker wants from all the
havoc he's creating in Gotham. Alfred says to him, “...Some men
aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be
bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to
watch the world burn.” Surely, we are seeing that today.
We
certainly could use a leader like Martin Luther King, Jr. right now.
A voice of reason, a leader who could stand in the midst of a burning
world and bring calm and sanity. His way of non-violence may have
taken longer, may have taken a terrible toll on the people involved,
but it changed the world for better for all people.
King's
statement that there is some good in the worst of us and some evil in
the best of us is right on target. Until we see that there is no 'us
and them,' there is only us here on the blue planet, we will not move beyond taking what we want, acting in revenge, and blaming
others for the violence we create.
It
is time to reclaim Dr. King's message of non-violence and to write it so
deliberately on our hearts that the power of forgiveness overcomes
the power of hate.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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