Martin Luther King, Jr. (II) - "... right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant..."

The quotations of the day come from Martin Luther King's Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech at nobelprize.org:

". . .nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time - - the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression. Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts . . . "

I know that he'd prefer to be celebrating Ronald Reagan or Herbert Hoover or Warren G. Harding rather than Martin Luther King, Jr., next Monday, but wouldn't it be nice if Dobeliou could use his obligatory Presidential holiday speech to pay something other than meaningless lipservice to the man we're honoring, and to his thoughts about war and peace. Of course, this may be a lot to ask of a President who doesn't acknowledge invitations from the NAACP. And the cognitive dissonance that this would generate in a President (and ex-Governor) who has no trouble seeing violence as THE answer to all his problems would probably hit him harder than a pretzel stuck in his throat.

But we can think about Martin's words, and think about how we can make them, and him, a part of our lives. The one good thing about Bush Jr. (and the only good thing about Bush Jr.) is that he will single-handedly bring back all that was best about the nineteen sixties.

"I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. 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. I believe that even amid today's motor bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaimed the rule of the land. "And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid." I still believe that We Shall overcome! " ---Oslo, Norway, 10 December 1964

-- true blue liberal