The Case To Study Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
One might think Dr. King Jr. and the Civil Rights Activists were born with a natural ability to love against evil. But, I’d argue this was a learned strategy which was curated through critical-thinking, objective planning, and faith.
And that’s one of the most inspirational parts about Dr. King Jr. — -his mind.
In 1955, the same year Rosa Parks was arrested on that bus in Montgomery, King gave a Sunday sermon expressing, “Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.” Which is to say, conflicts easily ensue in American society because most people don’t employ their minds effectively, because most minds are not muscular or “sharp enough” to “break through myths and sift [through] the true from the false.”
And that the lack of a “tough-mind,” is why Americans so easily succumb to rivaling against opposition, then objectively evaluating why there is an opposition.
And this process is how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr developed the non-violent strategy and made sense of it all. He analyzed the schemes of his “enemies” and understood their qualms were fueled through an immoral ignorance which ultimately harmed them as well.
So, when Dr. King Jr said, “darkness cannot drive out darkness, only love can do that,” — that was not just a poetic sentiment, that was one method to deactivate a bomb.
King never apologized for his criticisms on America, because he knew that America was the lost one. And even though lost, King stayed a rebellious lover of the country.
I hope people today understand that loving doesn’t signify a weakness, or even a “pass” for evildoing. It’s merely to stand in the face of it, and to boldly show it’s weapons will not work.
I’m for the notion of “less quoting of King” and more putting his words into actions. Right now, we need King’s ability to critically think about what our nation is, and what we have become more than ever.
