A fine statement. My kudos. I've often wondered just how MLK is really regarded by people too young to actually remember first-hand his life and achievements.
I think about this so often, being something of a youngster who looks backward for advice about the future. All I can see now are the effects of his (and not only his) work, weighed against a reality I have to construct through stories I hear, read, see on TV, in documentaries, etc. I can't imagine it, quite frankly.
But I can also see the difference in the older people I've known my whole life.
As an anecdote...Three generations my elder, in my family alone, I remember no shortage of racism and sexism, general prejudice or at least xenophobia. But I can also see, even in my grandparents who are still alive, a real difference in their perspectives. There used to be a real looseness with their bigoted language, but lately (say in the past 5 years) that has changed remarkably. And my parents, though one I still think harbors a bit of racial/nationalistic prejudice, knew well enough to teach me something fundamentally different than what they were taught.
Conscience has the voice of our elders; then our own voice; and lastly, the voice of our children.
...People like MLK help reflect the necessary climate for civil changes to occur; they then precipitate these ideas into action, that is, into reality. The survivors, seeing what they've been given, are meant to uphold a justice which isn't actually given freely. Which presently and even frequently must be recovered.
