Ripples #1026: Fierce Urgency of Now!
Jan 21, 2019
PEBBLE
We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., shared by Donna in Owings, MD
BOULDER
Life for none of us has been a crystal stair,
but we must keep moving, we must keep going.
If you can’t fly, run.
If you can’t run, walk.
If you can’t walk, crawl,
but by all means, keep moving!
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., shared by Simone in New York, NY (I also found a video of Dr. King delivering these words at the end of a speech to college students.
PONDER
2019 marks 90 years since the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and over 50 years have passed since his untimely death. There are significant ways that our society has shifted and grown around the issues of race and class that Dr. King and others worked passionately to advance. At the same time, there is so much still to be done. So much!
If it feels like we are stuck or even losing ground on some of these important issues, take heart: growth is not always linear. Progress usually includes some forward momentum, occasional big leaps, and inevitable periods of dormancy and/or contraction.
Even the existence of MLK Day was a process: U.S. Congress first proposed the idea in 1979; it wasn’t signed into law by President Reagan until 1983, and another 17 years passed before it was officially observed in all 50 states.
I’m not suggesting we are supposed to sit back and be patient–the time is ripe for us to recommit ourselves to being part of the solution and inviting others to do the same. While many people celebrate MLK Day with some form of community service, there are many other ways to honor his legacy: listening, learning, empathizing, contributing, speaking up.
Thanks in advance for doing your part!
Peace,
Paul
The Ripples Guy
P.S. If you head over to our official Facebook group, Team Ripples, we keep an updated list of Dr. King’s wisdom that we’ve shared over the last two decades of MLK Days.
