Making the Dream a Reality

Via Lifehack.org comes this post on twelve practical ways to make Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream a reality.

On the personal side, my kids are starting to notice that some folks have darker skin than they do. It’s mitigated by a large degree; two of them (Jonathan and Caroline) are pale like their mother, the other two (Matthew and Marie) about about a shade lighter than I am — if that. Therefore, the conversation about skin color usually stops with toddlers and children comparing arms, then goofing off.

Skin color, it seems, is a curiosity to them and little else.

As much as I would love to shrug off history, it’s not that easy. Something is owed, and regardless of the injustice we have a call to charity that transcends the reasons why.

For myself, the tough part isn’t explaining how human beings arrogated themselves to a position to buy and sell other human beings. The tough part is explaining those injustices (and yes, their effects) still exist in today’s world. It’s telling them that the world isn’t all roses. That some people are going to judge others — and them — based on silly and superficial ideas.

Worse, standing up for what is right isn’t going to play out like Hollywood tells us it will be. Heroes are martyred. Plato’s freed prisoner in The Republic was killed, not celebrated. Fighting against injustice isn’t easy, otherwise it would have been done by smaller men and women than ourselves.

The even tougher part? Hoping I raise them well enough to make sure they do their part levelling out that injustice. Deep down, I think that is the heart and soul of what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. tried to communicate to us with his life.

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