Monday; January 18
On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King delivered an inspirational speech in Washington D. C. In what has been called his “I Have A Dream” Speech”, King laid out his vision for a free and united nation. After describing freedom, Dr. King noted, “And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: ‘Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.’” Through the years, I have thought a lot about this speech and am continually drawn to its imagery of children walking hand in hand in a free society. As I reflect on the speech almost sixty years later, I think our children have made advancements in unity, but I am not too sure about us big people. I understand th