How was your weekend? Parker came down with a fever and a nasty cough on Saturday so we had to take it easy. His fever spiked again last night so he’s at home resting. Sam also caught this “bug” so my whole family feels like it’s down for the count. When it rains it pours, right?
Today, we take a moment to remember the late, great Martin Luther King, Jr. While we’ve all heard his “I Have a Dream” speech, we know that King’s legacy included much more than that. Buzzfeed put together a list of 17 Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes you’ve never heard. I like their last quote the most, which was pulled from his sermon on February 4, 1968 called “Drum Major Instinct.” To give you some context, “Drum Major Instinct” was first told by J. Wallace Hamilton, a well-known, liberal, white Methodist preacher in 1952. They refer to as King put it, “a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first. And it is something that runs the whole gamut of life.”
Now here’s part of King’s sermon, where he imagined his own funeral. This powerful speech, spoken from the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church, would be told just two months before his assassination.
“If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. (Yes)
I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. (Yes)
I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.
I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen)
I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes)
And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)
I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)
I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that’s all I want to say.
If I can help somebody as I pass along,
If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,
If I can show somebody he’s traveling wrong,
Then my living will not be in vain.
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,
If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,
If I can spread the message as the master taught,
Then my living will not be in vain.”
Art by Ihsanulkhakim Mokhsen.
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