The anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King will be celebrated tomorrow. Last year at this time it was an unusually poignant celebration as it coincided with the inauguration of the nation’s first African-American president. This year the holiday is shared with a much more troubling event: the earthquake in Haiti and its consequent devastation.
Nevertheless, the indefatigable hope that always underpinned King’s message can still serve as inspiration to those suffering in Haiti, their loved ones, and every empathetic soul that’s been bruised by unfathomable loss. King himself suffered many hardships in his quest for equality and justice. But his will was never weakened and he had an uncanny ability to turn tribulation into triumph. On that measure he was not ambiguous. From the cell of a jail in Birmingham, Alabama, King demonstrated the resolve that continues to serve as an example to us all. His was not a common plea for community service, but a challenge to commit oneself to positive change with the utmost urgency.
MLK: “So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?”
The audacity of these questions is that they assume that we have already stipulated extremism as the starting point for how we approach advancement or adversity. These days that is a requirement for the success of any public endeavor. If we don’t hit the ground running, our feet will be swept out from beneath us by the reactionaries and obstructionists who favor the status quo. Witness the loudmouthed town howlers, the delusional anti-socialist-healthcare cranks, the Tea Baggers. Because of these mudstickers, our intensity must always be on high. Our dials must be turned to eleven. And we must apply all of our energy and insight to our goals. Because, as Dr. King wrote from the same cell in Birmingham…
“…the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.”
And it’s still true today.
