Today is the 50th anniversary of the “I Have A Dream speech Dr. King gave on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. I began to write about him and my memories and then I realized I had already done so in 2009. In reading it again, the thoughts seem appropriate to today as well so here is it once more, albeit slightly edited.
I’m old enough to remember Dr. Martin Luther King and while he didn’t light the fire of the civil rights movement in the US (I’d say Rosa Parks is that hero), he certainly brought the fire to life and tended it well until his assassination (and I remember that as well – how horrible a day it was!).
What inspired me, a young (then) white kid was his notion of bringing a dream to reality. OK, the words and delivery were pretty inspirational too, even when you read them off a page. Yesterday the Inauguration Committee had a concert on the very place where Dr. King gave his “I Have A Dream” speech to celebrate, nearly 46 years later, a big piece of that speech coming to reality. One can’t help but wonder what Dr.King would have felt and said – he certainly should still be alive – he’d just be turning 80.
Robert Kennedy said “There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why… I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” I think that’s great business advice as well, even if George Bernard Shaw had the notion before Bobby. Mark Twain wrote that “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
So today, I celebrate Dr. King’s dreaming of a better world and making it happen. Tomorrow, we can watch it become real. What are you dreaming of? Can it be real? Why not? Or better – why not!!
Consult Keith 