Encomium MLK

I'd like to take a moment here to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Not as he was, for he was a man of his time and his views on the role of women and of marital fidelity were of his time.

Rather, I would like to recognize the idea of MLK. The idea that a person can stand up and be counted; to be able to make a difference. One person who places himself in the crux of events has the capability to change the times in which they live.

Let us recognize him as a man, and remember that he was remarkable not in spite of his flaws but because of them. He prevented his wife Coretta from becoming part of the civil rights movent, though she repeatedly volunteered. There were also infidelities, used as stress releases before speeches or after protest marches. Though worn out by struggle, riven with doubt and torn by fear of failure, he followed his course to the bitter end, and refused to relinquish to those who cried for violence and revenge.

He was no stylite, peering over an austere desert landscape - to idolize Martin Luther King Jr. is to abandon the very human aspect that made him great. It is foolish to claim that MLK was special to proclaim that he was above or better than the rest of us absolves us of the responsibility to be more, to hope more and to strive for more.

Let us, therefore, see Martin Luther King Jr. not as a saint, but as a man who (as a man) fought with his own demons and fell prey to his own vices, but had the courage and conviction to step forth and place himself in the crux of social change, and lead such a movement as to change the very society in which he lived.