Dear Dr. King,
I want to thank you for being a gift of love to our world.
You let your life speak in a most holy and human way. You ring forevermore.
You breathed your last breath 57 years ago today. The day before, on April 3rd, you delivered your “I Have Been to the Mountaintop” sermon in Memphis, Tennessee. In it, you described the story of the times in 1968; “There is trouble in the land and confusion is all around.”
America has evolved since then, and still, there is trouble in the land and confusion all around. Today, our choice remains the same as the one you posed: nonviolence or nonexistence?
I fear there are others, maybe many others, who either do not see it that way… or do see it that way but choose nonexistence. This is dangerous. They, I worry, are confused.
Of course, they don’t willingly commit to their own nonexistence. Not directly at least.
Directly, they commit to the nonexistence or suffering of others. Not unto all. It’s more selective. Like any -ism it discriminates and designates some group as more worthy of or entitled to existence than another group. Willful confusion or distortion about the equitable distribution of God’s grace. Intentional miscalculation of the divinity dispersed throughout God’s children. Like pretending some of us were born into elite boarding groups and can never be equal or empathetic with the humanity of a boarding group 7 passenger. We are on the same plane. We breathe the same air. If one goes down, all do. By committing and recommitting to this type of behavior or mindset, consciously or subconsciously, we are all brought down by the self-defeating effort of selective nonexistence.
Maybe they understand selective nonexistence as an end to their own suffering. But, here, they are confused. Pursuing selective nonexistence of one group is a means, not an end.
Collective nonexistence is what violence leads to. Collective nonexistence is the end.
Nonviolence or collective nonexistence, right?
Harming any of God’s children ultimately does harm unto you, correct?
Like you say, we are all unique fibers, threads, and atoms making up and sharing one single garment of destiny. Are love and nonviolence not our only options?
May we continue to learn from the parables and truths you shared with us.
May we not destroy ourselves through the misuse of our own instruments.
May we see the stars in this dark night sky.
May we go up together, because the only other way is down.
May we cultivate that kind of dangerous unselfishness you speak of, so that we may concern ourselves with the welfare of others, for if they heal, so do we, for if they feel, so do we.
Today we have the opportunity to go higher than we’ve ever climbed before. And that is thanks to the blessing of your memory, your words, your wisdom, your Love. You live on in all of us. In our Bull Connors and in our Ralph Abernathys. Dr. King, you echo on for all eternity.
May God continue to shine upon you, show you favor, and grant you Peace. Amen.
In peace and partnership,
Elie
