MLK

A few months ago, I posted the text of Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech. See it here.

Today I went to a lecture at school by Rev. Mark Dennis

Rev. Dennis discussed Dr. King's legacy and some of his management techniques. He compared and contrasted them to Barak Obama's. Very favorably compared them I might add. A classmate (Young Ashley, for those of you who've heard my stories.) said. "I want to vote for Obama more now than I did before!"

But anyway, the prime point of the lecture that I took away was that both Obama and King had spiritual advisers. The both had/have Pastors to help them along. This is the way Pastors can be agents of change.

Dr. King had "Daddy King" as MLK Sr. was called by those close to them. MLK also had Rev. Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays, who would eulogize King shortly after that day in April.

Senator Obama has Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity UCC in Chicago.

The contributions of these men were and are critical to the success of King and Obama. Rev. Dennis spoke us about the importance of training seminarians to be this type of agents of change. His most pointed comment was that "The world is in need of more Pastors and fewer Preachers."

Dr. King has always been a hero of mine. He's been up there with Ghandi, Nelson Mandela and other crusaders for Justice. But these people are almost like fictional characters. I've never had a real life link to them. Recently I was privileged to hear Rev. Martin Deppy tell stories about his work with Dr. King when Dr. King moved his family to Chicago.

One of Martin Deppy's closest friends, (indeed, Deppy described him as his brother), is Jerry Forshey. The last time I had surgery, Jerry, a retired United Methodist minister, was a great source of comfort to my lovely wife (girlfriend at the time) Mo. Jerry has cancer and is not expected to live to see the end of the year. He has asked me to help him to write some of his stories of his involvement in the Civil Rights movement. I've already heard stories about what happened to Jerry when he was marching and a number of people including Dr. King were hit with thrown bricks. I've heard stories about Jerry's involvement in the effort to desegregate the Methodist church. I hope to hear more soon. I'm sure I'll be writitng about it in some format. If not here, then somewhere.

It is an obvious honor to be asked to help someone carry out a dying wish. But there is another level to this. This gives me a living link to one of my heroes. I've sat and talked with two men who were privileged confidants of one of the greatest figures in American History. It has been almost two weeks since I was asked to do this and I'm still processing it. I'll let you know how it goes.

Seasonal Depression Antidote

I've taken a hiatus. But I have some new projects to work on and some old, overdue ones to finish. So, I need to clear out the cobwebs and break the writers block I've had for a while. I also usually spend most of January in bed, hibernating. I'm always down this time of year, as is most of everyone else. This morning I, as usual was "flipping through" the online version of the Chicago Tribune. and I came across the picture below. It goes on my list of cutest things ever and it made me smile for , what seems like the first time since Christmas. (Except of course for the constant smile that comes from being around Mo. She's been wonderful as usual. I'll never understand how she puts up with my foul moods, but she does. She really does love me.) Anyway, enough of that. Here's the picture. (It's a baby Polar Bear.)