Anyone who has a list should ping it. You will not read anything more eloquent or beautiful today. little jeremiah, we might even agree on some moral absolutes here.
Bump.
Timeless truth bump and ping.
Well worth saving. Thanks for posting this.
But how dare anyone criticize a law ordaining abortion or homosexual "marriage"...
Good, good, post! Thank you!
"The answer is found in the fact that there are two types of laws: There are just and there are unjust laws. I would agree with Saint Augustine that "An unjust law is no law at all."
This was a very sobering speech, and MLK was quite eloquent, along with being a good man. However, one must never break the law, regardless of the unjustness. As soon as one does that, they immediately lose credibility with those who would potentially sympathize with their plight. And this will cause a host of other problems to occur. We simply work to make things better for ALL those who live in the U.S. We follow set laws(rules), and if they are unjust, we LAWFULLY change them. Otherwise chaos results. Subjecting society to chaos, for the sake of one group makes no sense whatsoever. Many tradgedies would have been avoided if we all would have remembered, patience is a virtue.
Remarkable man,
remarkable writer.
Here we go. Let's see who will stand with Dr. King on this statement.
I often find it very important to snip and read first the opening and closing paragraphs before reading the body of any work, so I am placing that below to view in perspective before I comment.
"MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN:
While confined here in the Birmingham City Jail, I came across your recent statement calling our present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom, if ever, do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would be engaged in little else in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine goodwill and your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I would like to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms."
"Never before have I written a letter this long, (or should I say a book?). I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else is there to do when you are alone for days in the dull monotony of a narrow jail cell other than write long letters, think strange thoughts, and pray long prayers?
If I have said anything in this letter that is an overstatement of the truth and is indicative of an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything in this letter that is an understatement of the truth and is indicative of my having a patience that makes me patient with anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.
I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil rights leader, but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.
Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,
Martin Luther King, Jr.
This is so marvelously contrived, from the image of a busy leader with a harried and devoted staff and sumptuous surroundings set on high all dedicated to the betterment of the downtrodden below in the first paragraph, that one would scarce have guessed that King was in prison had he not prefaced this sonorous stentoration in his address.
Yet, the writer in me finds no fault in the symmetry which follows the many threads in the lengthy solioquy and ties each loose end up tightly in the closing paragraphs despite the precious precience with which this seems to have been written.
No ancient Greek had a more willing Troy.
Libertarian ping.