Sunday, January 3, 2010

Crossroad with Greatness




A few years ago, I was with a leadership team as we made our way through Atlanta. We stopped at Ebenezer Baptist Church, to visit the museum of a personal hero of mine. From pastor to civil rights revolutionary, Martin Luther King, Jr. shaped the image of humanity. Sad to say, many white churches stood in his way of racial equality. But he stood strong in what he believed was right, till his dying day.

As we made our way through his museum, I stood speechless in front of a certain display. It read,
Every man must decide whether he will walk
in the light of creative altruism* or the darkness of selfishness.
This is the judgment.
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is,
what are you doing for others?
In a moment of poetic justice, I realized that my snapshot photo reflected an image of myself. This forced me to look introspectively. It was almost if I stood at a crossroad with greatness. As if Martin Luther King, Jr. himself was asking me, “Chris, what are you doing for others?”

And so I extend the question to you. Will you walk in the light of altruism or the darkness of selfishness? What are you doing for others? Please comment.

And if you have a favorite MLKJ quote, feel free to share.

*Altruism: the quality of unselfish concern for the welfare of others

3 comments:

  1. "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." MLKjr
    Donna B Moore

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  2. i would comment on what i'm doing for others, but that would seem a bit self-serving to me unless i were asking for help in accomplishing the task.

    that being, i love this post.

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  3. "Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind."

    The quote is beyond awesome, and is taken from his Drum Major Instinct speech, which should be listened to in its entirety.

    http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_the_drum_major_instinct/

    -Stephen

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