Five decades ago, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated because they thought that bullet would silence his words. Well he hasn’t been silenced and although there is still disparity among races, cultures and religion, we must remember that using violence to promote equality does not carry long and will ultimately divide us further. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself believed in the use of peaceful demonstrations, acting with love and calm.
Myself when I look at you for the first time, yes I see your color, yes I see how you dress, yes I see your body language, and yes I see you making the same observations of me. I converse with you next and my beliefs, values, upbringing, and perceptions linger in the background. I listen to you, I learn about you, we find common ground, we communicate, our color fades, our perceptions fade, we find we are the same, we find similar but separate paths, we share, we compare – we converse. This is what I always bring to the table. Most times I am successful, sometimes not. I don’t get upset because I believe, I believe that we all at our core believe in “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.
Make it a practice to converse with someone outside your “click” and comfort zone. This is how I was brought up and is my take as a white man on what Martin Luther King Jr believed in that all are created equal and all should be treated with respect, dignity, and without hate or bias. – SETII 01/15/2018
Menschheit: A prospective from Stanley E Thornburgh II 