New Year, New Promise

This new year feels very young, but it’s loaded with history.
The 150^th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
The 100^th birthday of Rosa Parks.
The second inauguration of our first black president, coinciding with MLK Day.

I can’t help but hope that this last bit of synchronicity holds a certain power. A power I don’t dare name. A power that should act on our nation’s collective subconscious to revive Dr. King’s message of non-violence and universal love. This year, as our elected politicians confront the immediate challenge of gun control reform, I’m hopeful that Dr. King’s legacy will ring strong.

As a reminder to self, I looked up his speeches, in search of his unique poetry: the language that moved mountains. The two excerpts below stuck with me.

“Man was born into barbarism, when killing his fellow man was a normal condition of existence. He became endowed with a conscience. And he has now reached the day when violence toward another human being must become as abhorrent as eating another's flesh.”  - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  “Why We Can't Wait” 1963

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. The chain reaction of evil -- hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”  - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Strength To Love” 1963

Forty years have passed since these orations, and the message still holds.

In the wake of the Newtown massacre, and the second inauguration of President Barack Obama, and the celebration of the birthday of Martin Luther King, this last week of January is heavy with promise. It’s time we evolve into a gentler nation.