Living A Life

The time goes by

whether we wish it or not.

Our permission is not needed, our protest not noted.

Time is heedless. It does not see,

it does not hear. It shows neither malice nor mercy.

It simply passes, knowing not whether

we cry in pain

scream in fear

or enjoy the motion of the ride.

Daylight gathers in the morning

shadows fade in the glare of noon

darkness chases fading rays in evening.

See the colors, changing in the passing light.

The only constant is change.

The only record is memory.

Remember the loving touch of the mother

the smiling face of the father

Toys, tastes, temptations,

the many days of childhood

running, learning, playmates, laughing, tears

lessons for life in every event.

Remember the growing

graduating, going,

familiar faces behind you, hands waving goodbye.

Remember the people met. Some stay, some go.

Some leave little trace, others mark us permanently

With lines harsh or pleasing to the eye.

Feel the passion of love, the joy of new life,

the birth of our futures, tiny hands, trusting eyes,

diapers and feedings and toys again.

Marvel at the passing of the days

children growing, loved ones aging, lines deepening

hands aching with the labors of days gone by.

Wave those hands goodbye now, watch the old car fade

in the distance. No more diapers, no more toys

They have their own lives ahead to live.

Hold the gnarled familiar hand one last time,

smooth the grey hair, kiss the dry lips,

Say goodbye to the ones who gave you life.

Face the passage of the days.

Enjoy the good times, treasure the visits,

stroke the cheek of your grandchild.

The time is nearly gone

the circle is almost complete

the ride almost back at the start.

A familiar hand in yours. The brush of lips

that kissed you many times, many years ago.

Saying goodbye to the one who gave them life.

Eternity beckons

the next journey is about to begin.

Your life here is lived, your actions echo in eternity.

Living A Life

The time goes by

whether we wish it or not...

Live it.

Martin Luther King Jr.

There are measures of a man that we don't comprehend until the flood waters are rising past his neck. That is when we find out what lives within him. When you are cursed at, it requires no courage to curse back. When you are spit upon, it's no great feat to pucker up and spit in return.

How many of us, if faced with cruelty and injustice, would be able to keep a good enough soul to refuse violence and instead face evil with good? Martin Luther King Jr. was surrounded by evil. How do I define this particular evil? As the searing of the conscience that would allow one race to hold another in contempt simply because of the color of its skin.

King lived in a society where blacks couldn't drink from the same fountain as whites, couldn't sit in the front seats of a public bus, couldn't eat at a Woolworth's lunch counter, couldn't attend the same quality colleges as white students. A society where blacks weren't allowed to use the front entrance of some buildings, but rather had to slip in through the back door like servants. Where blacks couldn't live in the same neighborhood as whites, and black children weren't allowed to play with white children.

Those who broke these iron rules were threatened, beaten, jailed, burned out, bombed, murdered. The whites who committed these horrible crimes were acquitted by juries of their white peers. In the country ruled by "equal justice under law", there was no justice if you were black.

But even surrounded by such despicable evil, Martin Luther King Jr. refused to grow angry or bitter. He determined to fight evil not with more evil, but with goodness that outlined the ugliness of the hate swirling around him all the more clearly.

How can you not admire the strength and courage that allowed him to treat people with respect who treated him with none? When in his greatest speech, he dreamed of a day when ALL MEN would be judged "not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character", King unknowingly turned on a spotlight that shown first on himself, revealing his unalterable commitment to equal justice for ALL, and his unbreakable grip on the gospel of love.

Ever since that day, it is up to each individual, if we dare, to step into that bright spotlight and measure how tall our shadow stands next to his. Martin Luther King Jr's mark looms huge, forcing us to examine the content of our own character in comparison.

The life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. proves again that, as in all of history, the greatest men and women have been the humblest and kindest, and those who loom the largest in our minds have been those most acquainted with sacrificial love.