MLK and Mindfulness

Back in the 1980s, when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, there was no day honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.  Dr. King was a Civil Rights leader, an icon, but there was no national celebration until then. I was in high school, and Stevie Wonder came to our school, played the piano and sang.  The next thing we all knew was that MLK(and how many people out there are so very important that they can be identified by just their initials?) had his day.  Federal holidays aren't just handed out all willy-nilly; so this was a big deal.  Since I was a teenager, my excitement was more about having a day off from school, but I'm older now.  I wasn't alive back in 1963, but I wish I had been there.

I don't know what MLK would think about what's happening right now, what he would say.  He wasn't perfect, but he wasn't walking blind.  He must have had a very specific road that he was following toward equal rights when he was murdered.  We know that he had an amazing dream, one that started to change the world.  He spoke about transforming the "jangling discords" of America into a beautiful symphony; our nation seems even more stridently disharmonious today. 

Yet...

Most of us, when we have a dream and we talk about it, use the past tense.  We're awake, so the dream is over.  It's done.  But Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't say that he had a dream.  He didn't use the past tense.  For him the dream wasn't over.  Instead, he said, quite clearly: "I have a dream."  Present tense.   Here it is, more than a half century later, and we are still in the midst of Dr. King's "fierce urgency of now".  The mindfulness currently being preached about on the internet wasn't a thing back in 1963, but MLK was already there.  Dr. King told us, "I have a dream", and by sharing his moment of mindfulness with the world, he gave us something very special. Our country changed for the better as a result of that dream.  It's difficult to remember that sometimes, with all the idiocy, ignorance, and hatred swirling around.  

The dream is still happening. 

MLK Day

When I was in the tenth grade at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, a very important person came to play an impromptu concert in support of a federal holiday celebrating Martin Luther King. That person was Stevie Wonder.

We did not know why we were having an assembly, and at first I was a little irritated about the change in my routine. But I got caught up in the excitement buzzing around the auditorium, and then Stevie Wonder came out on the stage.

He didn't play long, but he got all of us into the moment. I remember there was a LOT of screaming and quite a few people on their feet. He spoke about Martin Luther King, and I can remember thinking that it was kind of silly that someone who had such a significant impact on America did not have their own holiday. I thought something along those lines, at least. I'm sure it was more surly, in keeping with my teenager self.

Then the show was over, and we all headed back to class for the rest of the day. I believe that the local news had a story about the event, and then pretty quickly after that, Martin Luther King got his very own federal holiday. There was much rejoicing.

But think about it for a moment, all the things that Mr. King accomplished in his life that merit a federal holiday. I know that he didn't do those things with any sort of personal gain in mind. Those are big shoes to fill, aren't they?