TWO LIFE-CHANGING SPEECHES - ONE CONTINUING CHALLENGE

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Stockholm, Sweden, December 11, 1964.

Since my birth in 1937 I have lived through some amazing changes:

From radio to TV; from wall mounted party-line phones to skype; from prop and jet planes to rocket ships to the moon; from World War II to conflicts in the Middle East; from the golden, peaceful fifties to Vietnam, hippies and the turbulent sixties; from censorship to the seeming complete lack thereof; from growing up near all-white Lynden to teaching in a predominantly black inner city Seattle school; from overt racial bias to the civil rights movement; and, finally, to the ongoing struggle for peace and equality in every aspect of American life.

Older age allows time for looking back and pondering on where we have been, where we are going, and what life is all about. Granted the thinking is subjective based on one's experiences, but there might be a few nuggets worth sharing.

On this eve of Martin Luther King's birthday I find myself reflecting on his life and the continuing lessons of his words and deeds, the cornerstone of which was our civil rights and striving for change through peaceful and non-violent means. Our country has come far since his "I have a dream" speech which touched my heart, particularly the following excerpt:

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers . . ."

Tonight that part of your dream was a reality at a girls' basketball tournament in Ferndale, Washington, Dr. King. My 6th grade granddaughter's good friend and fellow teammate is a little black girl. They hang out at school, enjoy sleepovers with friends, and have a friendship uncomplicated by the strife of the past.

Another part of his speech said this:

"Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force."

But that part of the dream is not yet realized. There is still strife and divisiveness in the land. We have watched hatred and bitterness escalate and become part of our daily lives, unfolding in the media, in government offices, and in gathering places all across the land. Many of us stand helplessly by as hostility grows and harsh words are tossed back and forth.

It culminated last week in Tucson, Arizona, where an apparently unbalanced gunman murdered or maimed nineteen people, including a 9-year old child. The nation was stunned as we went into blame mode, searching for why and how.

Could the answer come by listening to another powerful voice calling anew for civility in our lives? Perhaps there is hope. In a speech at the memorial for the fallen, President Barack Obama tried to help us deal with the tragedy by searching for answers we can use in the future. Avoiding finger pointing and blame he said the following:

"... at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized - at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do - it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds."

In referring to those who died or were injured, he went on to say to we need to work together "to widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American dream to future generations."

Perhaps the most poignant part for me was his reference to 9-year old Christina Taylor Green who was there to meet Congresswoman Gibbons.

"Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation's future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted. . . I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us - we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations."

Yes, Dr. King is on my mind tonight, and so is President Obama - two intelligent, dynamic African-American men trying to help us see a way to bring out the best in our country. How thankful I am to have lived in their lifetimes, to hear them speak, to be inspired by them to be my better self. Can we all put aside our political differences and answer the call for civility in our discourse with one another? I hope so. In the words of Mary Worley Montaqu, "Civility costs nothing and buys everything."