These are portions of the wall outside the Martin Luther King Center. We visited the center a few weeks ago with some or our very dearest old friends from far away.
We visited the house King lived in as a boy,
a large Victorian house set across from a row of smaller homes and shotgun houses.
These houses are all still occupied.
African Americans lived together here, the well off and the poor.
At the end of the street is the old fire station. It is a museum now.
We also stopped in Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King's father (and grandfather) were preachers.
Martin Luther King Jr. is an example to me. An example of perseverance and courage.
These words get me every time:
"Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land."
I am not a religious person really, though I am a spiritual one. King worked so hard for right and justice in the face of so much hate and so much danger. He's beyond the norm, truly heroic, truly inspiring. If I could have just one fraction of his tenacity, his capacity for good works, and his faith in the common man, I think to myself.
