In a season of reflecting
over the fiftieth anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s passing, there is a
stark image presented by the man himself as he speaks to students from
Glenville High School in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 31, 1968 — five days before he was assassinated.
Dr King recounts a story
of riding the school bus in the segregation era, having to sit on the back of
the bus, the white children sitting at the front. He recalls placing his mind
on the front seat and promising himself that his body would be there one day.
That’s a passion unbound
by the circumstances with which he was presented. He crystallised this
following concept in his being:
“No army can withstand the strength
of an idea whose time has come.”
― Victor Hugo (1802 – 1885)
of an idea whose time has come.”
― Victor Hugo (1802 – 1885)
Dr King refused to be
identified as someone lesser than someone else. He proves the possibility that
we, in our minds, can transcend the milieus we find ourselves in. The mind is unimaginably
powerful; invincible when it’s indwelt with the thrust of integrity and virtue.
When our mind insists on
being held by a vision, no matter how lofty, the heart is encouraged. And when
the heart is encouraged, faith, as a process, is inevitable. When faith walks
forward with feet adorned with the shoes of courage, it’s the forerunner of an
anointed destiny.
If we live a life that is
full to the brim to the overflowing, we don’t resent it. Bitterness only spurns
a hope that could otherwise be chosen. If pressures fill our lives, we must
live as if change will inevitably come. If it is loneliness, we trust it won’t always
be that way. If it is grief, we know the sun must rise on some soon horizon. Confusion
and chaos may be our present location, but contentment amid such noise assures
us of a peace-laden destination.
Contentment begins in the
mind resolved to choose hope in the mirage of despair.
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