MLK Day Thoughts

You know, I used to take time during MLK day to think about what the man stood for. What he believed in. That tremendous, stirring speech about dreams that so many people didn't share at the time. Do we share them, yet?

We sure don't act like it.

I want equality. A world where it's how well you do the job, not the color of your skin, that gets you placed. I don't care what you look like, where you're from, who you worship...if I need a brain surgeon, a mechanic, a plumber, a teacher, a hairstylist, a rocket scientist, or anyone to do a job I can't, I want you because you are the best I can find for that job. Go get pierced, I won't judge. Have tattoos? I don't care. The ink isn't doing the work, you are. Same for skin color. Your pigment isn't doing the job...you are. Dittos your god or gods...and as long as you don't try to shove them down my throat, I really don't care who they are. They aren't fixing my leaky pipe or teaching my kid math. You are. Dittos your sex. Procreation aside, your gonads aren't doing the job. You are. Get the picture?

I don't know where I'm going with this. I love that speech...it makes me cry, because King was a visionary and he sure could orate. We don't have people to give stirring doses of hope and truth like that, any more. I wish we did. People to help us keep focused on things like equality, freedom, justice. Sounds like a cartoon or a bad political slogan, doesn't it? And that's too bad

I was cruising blogland, doing my usual hunt for new prey things to read, and found this over on http://www.boobsinjuriesanddrpepper.blogspot.com/ Go read her whole post. Read her whole blog...she'll put a smile on your face, even when she's serious. Anyway, here's part of what she wrote that I am now blatantly copying because she said it so well I don't feel the need to change it, just add to it a little:

I have a dream....

I have a dream that one day we will unite as a country to care for the deserving ones who cannot care for themselves. We will provide health care for our elderly and not force them into poverty with rising pharmaceutical prices for medicines that enable them to simply live.

I have a dream that we will welcome our military home with joy and gratitude and not force our beliefs upon them about a war they fought while we watched it on the news.

I have a dream that one day I will not fear sending my children to a public school.

I have a dream that myself and others like me can speak freely and innocently, with no malice in our hearts, and not be labeled as a person who hates simply because of the words we choose.

I have a dream that people will rise above those words thereby taking away their power to harm.

And I'm adding some of my own...

I have a dream that one day no one will be judged by their clothing, weight, sex, piercings or tattoos, but rather by how they help to build our fellowship of humanity and give it strength, grace, endurance, and beauty.

I have a dream that who, where, or how a person worships won't affect how they are received by their fellow man.

I have a dream that one day, NOT noticing the color of a person's skin will no longer be a crime.

I have a dream that my child, and your children, and their children, will not have to live in fear of their government, but will rather find themselves free to simply be, love, speak, and do.

I have a dream that one day teachers will be free to teach, without fearing their students or lawsuits or restrictive policies or gangs or unions or indifferent administrations.

I have a dream that people who home-school will one day be left to do so in peace without fear of hounding from DFACS, teacher's unions, school boards, and people who know nothing about it but will lecture endlessly about how the parents are ruining their children's future because we care more about really educating our kids than about making them into mindless drones.

I have a dream that one day soon I won't have to worry about filling out all these so-called "voluntary" tax papers and fork over a chunk of what our household (read - husband) earns, but will rather be free to spend it and donate it as I/we choose.

I have a dream that we will no longer blame and punish the victims for simply being victims, but will champion them against their abusers, rapists, perpetrators of violent acts, or oppressors. And that we will stop keeping them victims when they are ready to be strong, to be survivors, to move on.

I have a dream that one day, our bloated legal system will be torn asunder and made anew to better reflect the needs of We, the People, rather than they, the lawyers.

I have a dream that one day people who do harm to the innocent will come to justice...whether the innocent be child, woman, man, or animal. All living things deserve compassion, mercy, and equality, don't they?

I have a dream...that one day...the gods of all men willing...there will never again be a person on this planet who isn't free...that there will not be one person unjustly imprisoned for speaking truth, for questioning law, government, religion, or convention...that no one will have to fear losing their kids because they believe differently, eat differently, look differently, or even act differently. That no one will ever again have to fear the men who come in the night with guns, torches, threats, violence, anger, hatred, fear, domination, ignorance, badges, handcuffs, unjust laws, pain and death.

I am still dreaming.

G'night, sleep tight, and dream deep.