Oh for a King!

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.