Talking King

Via Boing Boing comes a link to an MP3 of an inspiring speech by the great Martin Luther King, long one of my heroes for his wisdom, the fact he knew he was an imperfect human being like the rest of us but kept trying and for still believing in non violent protest in a violent time (which would eventually claim his as a victim). I'm with Avi who pointed it out to BB, this quote from 32 minutes into the MP3 speech is a particular standout piece which hits me:

"I say to you, this morning, that if you have never found something so dear and precious to you that you will die for it, then you aren’t fit to live.

You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be, and one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid.

You refuse to do it because you want to live longer. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab or shoot or bomb your house. So you refuse to take a stand.

Well, you may go on and live until you are ninety, but you are just as dead at 38 as you would be at ninety.

And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.

You died when you refused to stand up for right.

You died when you refused to stand up for truth.

You died when you refused to stand up for justice."

Amen, brother; in times when goverments keep cutting at civil liberties generations fought for and people often let them because they have been terrified into doing so or worse because they are too apathetic to stand up and say no it becomes even more important. Bad things may happen because of bad people but they are allowed to continue happening because good people keep quiet.