I'm pleased to see that many of my favorite bloggers have dedicated their sites this day to a warrior for peace - Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929—1968). I decided to do the same after my kids, my daughter especially, kept talking about how special this day is to them. I don't know that my eight year-old really understands who MLK was, so we discussed it over breakfast, and I explained to her, briefly, why I think he is great, and worthy of a day in his name.
Our country was founded on principles of liberty based upon one thing: the belief that God alone determines human value, and He, Himself, said that man was created in His image.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:27, NIV
At the time of our nation's founding, their was a extreme injustice that was prevalent throughout the world: slavery. Slavery has been present throughout human history, and no peoples have escaped being subject to it, nor have many been innocent of partaking in the process of the enslavement of others. In the founding of America, though, something truly profound occurred: the basis of our existence was justified by appealing to the justice and wisdom of no man, but the Almighty, himself!
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [emphasis ours] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - American Declaration of Independence
In other words, ALL men are equal. Not based upon the whims of men or kings, but are given that station by their Creator Himself. And, included in those "unalienable rights" is liberty itself, or freedom from captivity, restraint, or confinement.
It took nearly a hundred years, and several hundred thousands of lives to secure the emancipation of the slaves in our country, but it took the sacrifice of Dr. King, and many others who toiled, suffered, and died for that freedom in word to become freedom indeed.
May we all give thanks for Dr. King, the moral movement he led, and for those who are fulfilling his dream that, "... one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four 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. I have a dream today."
Let FREEDOM ring!
"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof - Lev. XXV, v. x. By order of the Assembly of the Province of Pensylvania [sic] for the State House in Philada."
- Liberty Bell Inscription
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