“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?”
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
How well I remember that sad day in 1968…I was only 13, but recall it vividly. My father was in the Georgia National Guard and was called up, as chaos was expected to ensue. Our family was scared to death, not knowing what to expect, yet there was no violence, no retaliation at all…only shock, disbelief, and a profound and lasting sorrow.
King knew he’d be killed…even prophesied it in a speech only about a week before. He didn’t play it safe. He chose to live for a purpose and give his life for that purpose.
One of my favorite quotes from Dr. King speaks to what frustrates so many of us: feeling unimportant, confused, questioning or criticizing our own value and purpose:
“Even if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go on out and sweep streets like Michaelangelo painted pictures; sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music; sweet streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry; sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, “Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
