Today we honor one of the most transformative, determined leaders in our history. The example that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. set for us seems an inexhaustible source of wisdom on how to lead change and he spurred us be better than we thought we could be. His Letter from Birmingham Jail is always worth a read, never more so than these days and this day. From my position, I simply cannot imagine all he endured and where he found the conviction and the determination to lead such change. We have all heard the old saw, “if you are not risking your job now and then, you probably aren’t doing the job that needs done.” Dr. King risked much more than his job.
I often ask leaders to get clear on what they are willing to die for. This is only mostly metaphorical. In King’s case, it was not. When we know our why, when we know our purpose, everything takes on a different light. Suddenly we see what is important and what is not just melts away.
Let us visit Memphis on April 3, 1968.
Dr. King is to give a speech but is just too exhausted to do so. He has survived arrests, imprisonment, verbal and physical attacks, bomb threats, death threats, threatening phone calls about himself, his wife, his children—he has been persecuted in every way imaginable. His plane was delayed by a bomb threat that very day. He is exhausted. He needs a break, a respite, a balm. His righthand man, Ralph Abernathy, agrees to give the speech in his place and goes to the church. Once Abernathy sees the crowd though, he hurries to a phone and calls back to the hotel. “Your people are here tonight, and you ought to come and talk to them. This isn’t my crowd. It’s your crowd. I can look at them and tell you that they didn’t come tonight to hear Abernathy. They come tonight in this storm to hear King.” Exhausted, King rises to the occasion.
Take a moment and reflect fully on what he said:
“I don’t know what will happen now; we’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. 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, and 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. And so I’m happy tonight; I’m not worried about anything; I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
The next day, he was dead.
The world has stood in awe at the prescience of these words. These sound like the words of an exhausted man and every one can understand why they would be. King had been tried and tested like few ever have and yet he was at perfect peace. He knew his why. The government did not want him to continue the Poor People's Campaign; they were fearful of him. His wife Coretta feared for his life more each day. The pressure in America was intense. Lyndon Johnson had just announced he was giving up the fight and would not stand for reelection. Yet King soldiered on. He had seen the promised land. Nothing else mattered. He had shared his vision—the promised land just over the mountaintop—a nation where people “will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” He was indefatigable in his pursuit of that vision.
When we think of transformative, determined leaders, MLK is on a very short list. Lincoln, Barton, Ghandi, Mandela, Parks, Hamer, King—they all knew their why—each a self-authorizing leader. Each willing to die for their cause. We know them because they transformed their world. We have so much to learn from them, none more so than the Reverend Doctor.
We can step across the river of history on the stones of those people clear enough in their why to change the world.
Today let us honor and thank Martin Luther King, Jr. for all he did for our country and for the example he set for us as leaders. I wish you every success in your transformative path.
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