In Memoriam of 9/11

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

[Martin Luther King Jr.]

On May 22

1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced his 'Great Society'. He stated, "The challenge of the next half century is whether we have the wisdom to use that wealth to enrich and elevate our national life." Similar to FDR's New Deal, the Great Society was focused on restoring the economic equilibrium and moral renewal in the society. Influenced and prompted very much so by Dr. King, President Johnson signed off under the most important Civil Rights laws. He also proposed Medicare for the elderly, education assistance for the students, a higher minimum wage, poverty alleviation grants, higher unemployment benefits, housing for the homeless, improved education for the Native Americans, pensions for the retired, tax rebates for small business, and subsidies for farmers... The list goes on... I believe we need someone like FDR or LBJ right now... Time cannot wait any longer. Will Mr. Obama, the probable Democratic nominee, deliver???

1992 Bosnia, Croatia, and Slovenia joined the United Nations.

Sacrifice we should never forget...

Human greatness is immeasurable, inexplicable and never fully ascertained... The greatness of Dr. King is not conducive to simple words and could never be reduced to such. He will remain the torch in the hands of the Statue of Liberty symbolizing not only the good in America, but also the good of the humanity...

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.

Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

(here)

The Dream...

On September 22, 1862 in the heat of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation (here):

That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

The freedom granted by the victory of the Union remained nominal when segregation and discrimination took the place of the servitude... It was only a hundred years later when Dr. King came to awaken the American conscience to enforce the true meaning of freedom... On August 28, 1963 he proclaimed the second 'Emancipation Proclamation'-- 'I have a Dream' speech, thereby denouncing any efforts to preserve the status quo and barricade the Civil Rights movement energized by him and his followers...
Today it is crucial to examine whether America has preserved the image that these noble men worked hard to create...