Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 17, 1994 TAG: 9401260018
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CLAUDE LEWIS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
King was spontaneous, plain and rooted to the principles in which he believed. Most celebrations in his name, though, are tainted by the fact that throughout the year, his plea for nonviolence is ignored.
King would have grieved that so many loved his personality but found his philosophy too difficult and demanding to practice. He would have been deeply disappointed by black-on-black crime, the breakdown of the American family, drug dependency and child abuse.
He would have hoped that his preachings would have had value year-round, not simply as a homework assignment during Black History Month or an annual - and predictable - feature on television.
Right up to the moment of his assassination, King lived with the dream of improving man's moral sense, of eliminating wars and helping man to find his higher self. He was a universalist, one who possessed the capacity to love without qualification, to respect men and women, regardless of faith, color or condition.
King was not only a ``drum major of justice,'' as he enjoyed putting it, he was also a soldier in the army of hope. His life was an example of goodness - not perfection - that others could follow.
Though intemperance always will exist, his idea was to reduce it to the lowest level possible. I met him many times and never in my memory did I ever hear a petty or petulant word from his mouth.
To be sure, he could be angered. But when he was, it was because someone refused to live up to the high principles he espoused. He became angry when some followers lost faith and resorted to gutter tactics, threats and violence. King was intolerant of this behavior. His idea was that those who believed in the concept of nonviolence should never stray from it. He was motivated by the principle of Christian love.
He was not the father of nonviolence, but played a major role in returning the concept of the 19th-century American philosopher Henry David Thoreau to America. Thoreau developed the idea of civil disobedience as a political force. It was employed with great success by Mohandas K. Gandhi in his determination to free his nation from oppression by the British.
Once, in trying to test him, I asked King if he felt any ill feeling toward George Wallace, the Alabama governor who was once a leading segregationist. King responded with his distinctively Southern drawl:
``Oh, no,'' he said, ``If it wasn't for George Wallace, the world would never have heard of Martin Luther King Jr. George Wallace was a great general in the civil rights battle. He was a very formidable adversary. I don't hate him or anyone.''
It was King's literal Christianity that lifted him above the pettiness of race. To the charge that blacks were inferior, he invariably responded with a stunning and disarming insistence that ``We are ALL God's children. People should be judged by their character, rather than by their condition or color.''
His was a wisdom for the world. Even in unguarded moments, he possessed an optimism and confidence that stemmed from his theological underpinnings. His philosophy of nonviolence was not based on theological abstractions, but an unshakable belief that mankind was better than its actions.
King's noblest effort, his great purpose, was to spread the doctrine of nonviolence and universal love throughout the world. Starting from a society that had a long and inglorious history of violence, it was a tough sell. But he never gave up. He spent his life trying to help his nation rebound from a moral corruption that has long been out of hand. He rejected the fable that human nature can't be changed.
Though King is gone, many still believe in his ideas. To keep the dream alive, he must be remembered on a continuing basis. Not simply in public speeches, but in personal practice. His was a philosophy by which people can live. It was developed from conscience, sacrifice and commitment. He was worthy of far more than annual empty celebrations that are as monotonous as they are meaningless because the hatred and killing goes on.
\ Claude Lewis is a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
\ Knight-Ridder Newspapers
by CNB