“The first federal holiday of the new year is often overlooked.  In the shadows of Christmas and New Years, Martin Luther King’s birthday is in danger of becoming just another day when banks are closed and mail delivery is suspended.  We tend to forget that this day marks the only federal observance of one single American.

 

But the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King was a man apart, and it is fitting that we recognize him this way.

 

So all over the nation, Americans should look inward to find the moral balance Dr. King urged us to actively seek.  As a leader, he urged us to look at one another in terms of our beliefs, our aspirations, our common values, and as Abraham Lincoln called them many years before, “the better angels of our nature.”  He forced us to reexamine our core values in terms of moral equality, our patriotic history, and our hope for the future of our nation.  And he depicted his vision for America in a language every parent knows – through his dream for his own children.

 

Equality, we have discovered in the years since Dr. King was taken from us, is not an enforceable concept.  No law can single-handedly change the hearts of Americans on the subject of race. Accordingly, Dr. King appealed to people of the world to change their lives along with their laws.  He challenged the American people  to judge one another on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. 

 

As Dr. King so eloquently put it, “We are not makers of history, we are made by history.”

 

Dr. King’s advocacy and activism are at the very core of what makes us American: standing up for your countrymen, speaking truth to power, and fighting for freedom.  He challenged his devoted followers to use civil disobedience, learned discourse, and moral arguments to inspire the world to change.  In terms of leadership, he was perhaps the best man for his time in the history of our nation.  He refuted the racism and discriminatory policies of his own nation.

 

So Martin Luther King Day remains a day to reflect on the past, as well as a day to look forward. Race relations and the civil rights movement need a prominent place in our culture – not just in the classrooms where we study their history.  In our churches and at our dinner table, a message of tolerance, in the tradition of Dr. King, is important to our national character.

 

In Southern Missouri, it can be difficult to replicate the demographics of our nation.  The many different faces and voices of America are not found as frequently in our small, rural towns as they are in big cities or coastal states.  But this challenge cannot be an excuse for ignorance.  It is incumbent upon us to reach out beyond the borders of our counties and our state as we embrace a nation rich in diversity.

 

We can start by remembering a man who, in his own words, “decided early to give my life to something eternal and absolute.  Not to these little gods that are here today and gone tomorrow, but to God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

 

If we use this one American life as a guide, we will get to the promised land Dr. King saw so clearly.  His faith and his patriotism formed the foundation for his life.  Even though he can not lead us in our ongoing pursuit of these goals, his testimony and his memory can inspire us to great things as a nation: unprejudiced equality is our ultimate goal.

 

America will get there some day, when Dr. King’s chariot swings low.”