MLK Celebration

Today, I attended a celebration to commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Cobb Civic Center in Marietta, Georgia. It was a wonderful event sponsored by the NAACP - among other sponsors - that highlighted the talents of persons young and old. Witnessing a nine-year-old girl give a powerful recital of one of MLK's speeches, a young teenage boy recite his spoken word "Dream Catcher," and a gentleman give his remake to the O' Jays "Family Reunion" were just a few of many moving performances.

There was a moment where we all stood to sing "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and it almost brought tears to my eyes because each verse was highlighted by a moment in history which marked the days of slavery, the civil rights movements, and today's struggles. It had me thinking about the struggles my ancestors endured with the lines "God of our weary years, God of our silent tears," and caused me to reflect on how they still maintained the spirit to lift their voices to sing, to fight, and to move forward.

Then, I thought of my life. Dr. King was not the only one with a dream. All of our ancestors had  dreams. The Harriet Tubmans, the Frederick Douglasses, the Rosa Parks, and everyone else who fought for the progression and freedom of the negro had dreams. Their dreams allowed me to have my stage. Their dreams allowed me to have my voice. Their dreams allowed me to have my dreams to dream for a better tomorrow.

This week, I spent a few days listening to a bit of Dr. King's speeches, and he was the epitome of what it meant to be free when he recited the words "I've seen the Promised Land." He was free. Now, I ask that we become free. Free from bondage. Free from despair. Free from the mental blockades that we have on our lives, in order to fulfill our dreams. "We" have a dream and we "shall be free at last."

God Bless

Why are you running?

One morning, a man rose up from his bed, and routinely slid into his slippers that rested bedside, headed to the bathroom and washed up from a long night's sleep. He went in to the kitchen to make himself a nice hot cup of coffee , like he does every morning, (a cube of sugar and a drop of cream). Still knocking off the rust from 8 hours of rest,  he walks outside where he gets his morning wake up stretch while the sun ricochets off his forehead (sending a warming alarm to his body that is it time to get the day going).

But he notices that something was different this morning. There were no cars commuting on street or children waiting to be picked up for school; everything was as quiet as a ghost town. There was no one in sight, except for a figure in the distance that was quickly approaching.

As the figure approached closer and closer, the man noticed that the figure was a middle aged gentleman running frantickly as if he was fleeing for his dear life. "What could he be running from?" the man thought.

So, the man decided to stop this gentleman and asked him, "What's going on? Where is everyone? What are you running from?" The man noticed that the gentleman, eyes wide, drenched in sweat, and out of breath continued to run in place. The gentleman replied, "I'm not running from anything! Haven't you heard?! I'm running towards greatness! Now, get out of my way before I miss it!" The gentleman gently pushed the man aside and continued to run with even more urgency. In the distance, the man could hear the gentleman yell "Greatness is ahead, what are you waiting for!"

Oftentimes, when we are en route, it is easy to assume that people are running from something, whether it is a job, a relationship, discomfort, etc. But we must stop to think, "What if this person is running towards something great; and if so, what am I waiting for?" There is only a small window of opportunity to achieve greatness, so we must not let it pass us by. Go get it!

God Bless