Martin Luther King, Jr. Remembered

Over the weekend, I was transfixed by major issues and how they conjoin in holocausts of people marginalized throughout American history. So, I wrote about those issues. Then on Sunday, the sermon was on remembering German's holocaust of Jews and gays, and anyone else who was viewed different from the ideal.

In all of this there is consistency: horror of man's power again man.

Of course, I remembered MLK's holiday, but I didn't write about it until today, the holiday in his honor. I wondered why I hadn't written this post a little earlier so I could publish it on the holiday itself. I concluded that the themes were consistent and in that I did honor to the man, Martin Luther King, Jr.

For those of you who don't know me directly, MLK's assassination was a powerful moment in my life. I had invested much emotion in support of civil rights and righting the wrongs done to our African-American brothers and sisters. When MLK was murdered in Memphis, I was stunned. so were most of my friends and colleagues.

The following day, I managed to get to work, but was too upset and distracted to do much good. So, I asked to take the rest of the day off. I did. I spoke to my pastor about seminary. The next day I took public transportation to Hyde Park, a southside Chicago neighborhood that is home to the University of Chicago and the Chicago Theological Seminary. I applied for admission and soon thereafter wad accepted for the fall term.

That decision changed my life. I had made a decision to do something about the world I wad living in and to correct the wrongs of both the past and the present. I spent a year in seminary before I realized I could do that better outside the pulpit and working the real world. So, I went into corporate human resources, and then on to the University of Illinois at Chicago. There I worked with students and faculty in student development and community leadership. The spirits of the academy wad infectious and led me to many years there. Later, I moved on to other nonprofit organizations where I continued to retirement.

In retirement I donate my experience and skillsets to nonprofits struggling to begin operations, or to strengthen challenging operating conditions of existing organizations. This consistency of purpose and calling have remained with me throughout my working career. And now in retirement, too.

In a real way Martin Luther King, Jr's holiday is with me every day. He is the reason I changed my life to do the work I do now. That's 52 years' worth of doing. I hope most of it was for the good.

January 21, 2020