HE Had a Dream... It wasn't mine.

I just watched this with my husband and four children.

And I realized without this man:

I don't think we'd know this one:

Forty-eight years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.  Truth be known, this is the first time I ever listened to the entire speech.  This is the first time the words I heard struck a cord.  This is the first time I cried through King's speech.  The vitiation of our country's history cuts deep.

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  Never before has this day been mine.  Never before has it marked such significance in our family's lives.  Never before did I take in what civil rights did for us...a family...a country...a people.  Today, we took an inventory of civil rights influence on our family.  Without civil rights, my family wouldn't be complete.  My son would never have come home.  He would not know family; it is likely he not know life.

In "I Have a Dream," King maintains the destinies and freedoms of different races are "inextricably bound together."  TRUTH.  I cannot get beyond his words.  They are not just true for America but for the entire world.  As I rejoice in the strides made over the past 48 years, I look hopefully to further progress here and in the remaining world.  King provoked thought as he preached of a hope "deeply rooted in the American dream.  (And goads us to) rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:  "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all mean are created equal."  Embracing this locution means then we move forward on the pretense that we are equal and equally deserving of life...all races, all nations, all people.

King had a dream.  It wasn't mine.  Mine depended on his.  His dream helped build my family.  My family dream is still growing.  But I have another dream.  A dream of hope for the hopeless, social justice, change, and life for the least of these.  He had a dream; at each step, I realize how linked our dreams are.  Happy MLK Day!