Today as we
celebrate the man, Martin Luther King Jr and his accomplishments I am drawn to
many of his inspiring quotes. The first one is probably familiar to everybody
from his “I have a dream” speech. The quote is “I have a dream that my four little
children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the
color of their skin but by the content of their character.” This quote has always hit me as a 2-part
statement that often times the second part of his statement seems to be
overlooked. There is so much talk about not being judged by the color or your
skin, but what character do you reflect in your life? I’m not saying there aren’t
people who do judge by skin color because it happens every day, but how do you
portray your character?
I recently
stopped to drop off coats to a group of homeless men. Most of them were very appreciative
and thanked me, but there was 1 man who started asking for my coat and proceeded
to make remarks that were not appropriate to make to someone he didn’t know. To
me that is not a character quality that is acceptable. Is it an honorable
character trait to walk into a store, pull a gun and take something that does
not belong to you, something you didn’t work hard for, something you need to
feed your children, or take the car from the person who uses it to get back and
forth from that job they need? No! That is a character flaw in my book. I hope that
one day the content of someone’s character becomes a focal point to our
outspoken politicians, religious leaders, athletes, people in the entertainment
industry, educators and particularly parents. Inappropriate behavior at home goes
unchecked and many times ignored leading to inappropriate behavior in society.
It would be
nice to see someone hold a door for someone, not a man, not a woman, but
anybody and the person be appreciative and say thank you. What about not
cutting someone off in traffic, smiling at the people in a check-out line,
having respect for yourself, treat others like you would want to be treated.
Would you want to have someone break into your business, destroying everything
you have worked your entire life to accomplish? Everybody wants the opportunity
to have nice things, but NOT at the expense of someone else’s hard work. As a
people there are so many out there that have lost respect for themselves and
take it out on others.
If you want
to be judged by the content of your character and not the color of your skin,
show your character so that color is no longer a factor.
Another of
Dr. King’s quotes is “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are
you doing for others?’” That is a question I most often hear in churches. Not
all people go out and live the missionary’s life but many spend their
resources, whether it be money, time, food, etc. for others. Recently I have
heard the words telling me I have a spiritual gift. My gift may not be like the
person sitting next to me, my neighbor, the nurse at the hospital, the firemen
down the street or the family who takes in foster children, but it is unique to
me. These gifts should be used for something good, used to build up others,
used to help the hungry, the lonely, the hurt and many more. If we choose to
intimidate, destroy, take, judge, humiliate or tease others we are not using
our gifts for what they were intended and it is not showing those we do these
things to how to use their gifts.
This does
not mean that every dime you make you give away, it doesn’t mean you give more
of yourself than you have to give and in doing so destroy and hurt others in
the process. I person who has accepted the responsibility to have a family cannot
work to the point of destroying that family by not being there. A person who
wants to feed his or her family and chooses to take from someone who has worked
hard for what they have cannot choose to destroy 1 family to save their own by
illegal and immoral means. I admit there have been times I envied the person
who had the big house, nice cars, took expensive vacations, etc. but I don’t
think I ever put myself in the position or taking from them to satisfy my
moment of envy. I am not a saint, I am not perfect, but I want to be. I want to
do good for others. I want to feed all the hungry. I want to put clothes on
everybody. I want people to have clean water. I want people to have heat in the
cold of winter. I want the person on the street to have a coat. I want the
mother to have food for her children. I want to be judged by my character, not
by the color of my skin, not by the car I drive, not by the house I live in,
not by my sex, not by my hair color, not by my athletic accomplishments, not by
my sexual orientation. Character is built every day, a little at a time. Show
your character so that Dr. King and others like him would be proud to call you
friend and a good and faithful servant to humanity.
