MLK, Jr. "Make a career of humanity."

"Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in."

(Martin Luther King, Jr. at the March for Integrated Schools, April 18, 1959.)

I am embarrassed to admit that more than once late last week I said how much I was looking forward to a 3-day weekend without even acknowledging why I was getting one. The courageous work of Martin Luther King, Jr. set so many good and necessary things in motion, and also put him in danger. 

Born on January 15, 1929, he died at the hands of an assassin on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, TN. He was 39 and in his short life had changed my country and our world. He had already won the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest recipient to that date, at age 35, in 1964. He was also a great orator and had such a way of putting powerful and poetic words together. 

In today's polarized world, there isn't much that seems to bring wide agreement, no matter what the topic. 

Maybe the first words of the quote above can be an exception: "Make a career of humanity." Can we all agree that our humanity is worth saving, worth honoring, worth our courage to protect? 

One doesn't have to march down streets, or organize rallies, or get put in jail for one's beliefs in order to be a contributor in this effort at maintaining our humanity. One just needs to be a decent and kind human being, doing his/her/their part to make today a day when whoever we are in contact with feels a sense of connection and belonging. 

Maybe because we smiled or shared a friendly greeting. Maybe because we said no to the power and greed that is destroying us bit by bit and said yes to sharing what we have. Maybe because we were humble enough to remember that we are all here by the grace of a Higher Power and that we all have far more in common than we tend to remember. 

There is no special training for this career in humanity. You and I each qualified the day we were born. Today, I will try to show up for this job. Will you join me?