Dream until your dream come true...
I'm not very good at spreading the love for special events and holidays on my blog. Sometimes I remember, but most times I don't.
I think I remembered Thanksgiving and Fourth of July this past year, but did squat on Christmas. I dunno why it is, but it is.
Yesterday, I completely forgot about the Martin Luther King, Jr., Day remembrance. Now that I think about it, I don't believe I've ever really used my blog to pay homage to one of the greatest civil rights leaders in the history of humanity. Considering I like to think of myself as a student of history and social studies and a big proponent of equality regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc., this is pretty sad.
Then I realized something yesterday that I consider even sadder.
Dave's Monday post mentioned how he was starting MLK Day the way he always does, by listening to Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech. I thought to myself how cool that is, to listen to the whole speech the third Monday of each January as a tribute to the man and his vision and to inspire himself to be a better person.
This was about the time I realized that I am pretty sure I've NEVER heard "I Have a Dream" in its entirety. Sure, I have heard snippets, the key soundbites that always air when a remembrance to Dr. King is played. But the whole thing? I think I can safely say never.
Not in grade school. Not in high school. Not in college. Not even in my own educational endeavors.
I consider this not only an educational system FAIL, but a personal FAIL. I don't know how it happened, but it did.
I feel the personal need to remedy this IMMEDIATELY. To that end, I've downloaded a copy of the audio of his speech from iTunes and listened to it while out for a walk at lunch. I can now confirm that I had truly never heard the entire thing. It's amazing when you get the full impact of it hitting you right in the gut. I can understand why Dave listens to it annually.
I hope I can be forgiven for this terrible oversight.
This was about the time I realized that I am pretty sure I've NEVER heard "I Have a Dream" in its entirety. Sure, I have heard snippets, the key soundbites that always air when a remembrance to Dr. King is played. But the whole thing? I think I can safely say never.
Not in grade school. Not in high school. Not in college. Not even in my own educational endeavors.
I consider this not only an educational system FAIL, but a personal FAIL. I don't know how it happened, but it did.
I feel the personal need to remedy this IMMEDIATELY. To that end, I've downloaded a copy of the audio of his speech from iTunes and listened to it while out for a walk at lunch. I can now confirm that I had truly never heard the entire thing. It's amazing when you get the full impact of it hitting you right in the gut. I can understand why Dave listens to it annually.
I hope I can be forgiven for this terrible oversight.
I bet you've done more than many by listening to it. I've always admired MLK Jr. Such a great man in history and we can still learn so much from what he said.
Posted by: Marie | Tuesday, 18 January 2011 at 10:39 PM
And listening to it makes me want to listen to more of his speeches. Good thing, right?
Posted by: kapgar | Tuesday, 18 January 2011 at 10:50 PM
I think I am going to have to give it a listen again myself. I know I have heard the whole thing, but it has been years since I have last. One thing that was distressing to me was that I was looking at a certain retailers website, and they had a MLK day sale. It is bad enough that our founding fathers have been reduced to mattress sales, now they are using this as a day to try to make profit. I have to say I was actually offended when I say that. I am not sure if other retailers had similar sales but it was very sad to see.
Posted by: Bob "Pappy" Richardson | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 07:46 AM
I would have to agree that it is sad. But it all kinda started with Christmas (even though we all know that's not the date Christ was actually born).
Posted by: kapgar | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 09:41 AM
I can forgive you for not having listened to the entire speech before... in some ways I envy you, because I'd love to be able to experience it for the first time all over again.
What I cannot forgive is implying that I could be a better person than I am now. How am I supposed to improve upon perfection? How can I do better than best? It doesn't get more awesome than me!
Posted by: Dave2 | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 11:01 AM
While it's true you are perfection, the mental pedestal upon which I place you won't allow me to think that you have ever reached an apex. I will always envision you obtaining greater and greater heights and, thus, redefine the very concept of perfection.
Posted by: kapgar | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 01:22 PM
I remember my history teacher in 10th grade making a big deal about the speech and making sure all of his students heard it. Admitting the last time I heard the speech was on Dave's blog the other day. Before that, maybe 5 years ago when working with my daughter on some US history homework.
Posted by: Marty Mankins | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 03:13 PM
We definitely had to listen to it in high school.
You're forgiven, but that forgiveness would come easier if you got me Dave Grohl.
Posted by: Sybil Law | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 03:35 PM
That's a lot more recently than me. Well, until yesterday.
Posted by: kapgar | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 03:55 PM
He's knocking on your door. Can't you hear it? Oh no, he's leaving. I tried.
Posted by: kapgar | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 03:56 PM
When you visit the Liberty Bell in Philly, the speech is playing as part of the exhibit on freedom. It struck me that so many people would just stand there and listen. I did. One of the great speeches.
Posted by: Nat | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 09:45 PM
Oh, maybe I did then too. But I probably didn't pay as much attention as I should have. Oh well.
Posted by: kapgar | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 09:52 PM
We had to listen to it in our AP Literature course in High School and boy is it amazing. If he were alive today my questions to him would be to find out if he was proud, not of the civil rights movement, but of today's civil rights leaders. I think sometimes they are seen as "ambulance chasers" that only pop up when something bad happens to african americans. I don't think that's what MLK envisioned when he gave that speech and I'd really like to know his thoughts.
Posted by: Scott | Thursday, 20 January 2011 at 10:16 AM
Can't possibly figure out who your "ambulance chaser" claim may be specifically referencing.
Posted by: kapgar | Thursday, 20 January 2011 at 11:41 AM