We Must Build the Dikes of Courage

Today is Martin Luther King Day, an annual national holiday to commemorate his life (1929-1968) and legacy and to raise this country’s awareness of Reverend Dr. King’s efforts to insure that the United States of America lives up to its founding ideals. “It’s a reminder of how much work still remains to be done,” wrote Olivia B. Walkman, a Time Magazine Staff Writer, “especially as the nation is reeling from the January 6 mob attack on the US Capitol; as racial justice protests that started after George Floyd’s death continue to take place daily nationwide; and as Inauguration Day marks the transition of a new administration.”

Let Reverend King’s wisdom and words guide us as this country navigates this time when the American people seem more divided than ever before in recent history.  “We must build the dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.”  Reverend King reminded us that we should never be silent . . . that we should stand up for what we believe in and speak out against injustice in every guise. "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." As we observe the transition of power in Washington this week, we should not look at it as the end of what was corrupt and depraved, but as a clarion call to rise up and speak out for what we believe in.  We will not be intimidated. "In the end," Reverend King warned, "we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."  Don’t let this happen!

Fifty years ago this country appeared to be coming apart at the seams. Our cities were burning and we were divided over a war so many of us opposed. It was a time when some of us found our own voices for the first time and finally stood up to say we would not be dictated to. “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”  We fought to take our country back and put it on a path on which we could all enjoy peace and the pursuit of happiness. Today we find ourselves divided again.  "History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people,"  It is a time to stand up for what this country has long stood for.  Let your voices be strong and clear.