i ` h a v e ` a ` D. R. E. A. M. ~

It's a fathomable thing: peace on earth.

John Lennon's "Imagine" as performed by Christina Aguilera conveys this possibility.

Transcendence seems to be a growing occurrence - being able to push aside our inhibitions and inner demons for a greater cause. There are the noble few and the even fewer who are so virtuous as to tend to the path we're to follow. To firstly pluck the blades of grass intently from the crust of the earth, down on their hands and knees to ensure the fulfillment of their efforts, then to get to their feet and return all the way to the beginning, having reached all about the earth to set up their efforts, and then to drag the burdens of man along in the right direction. Even when times were worse, when we were unable to physically do the things we are capable of now, people have made great leaps.

Merely thinking about it fills me with a sweltering pride.

Today, on this Monday, we observe and revere one of the great pioneers in Civil Rights. While he is predominantly acknowledged for the rights of African Americans, but if one would sit through his speech and read it as I have, the message is quite more than merely rights for "the black man".

On the twenty-eighth day of August in the year 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood upon the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. before many people. His speech, nearly twenty minutes of intellectual, reasonable, and admirable remarks, is something of a marker for man: the milestone for both that time and now. He spoke of many things, relating to the people of that time that still find a place in today's society to squat upon and highlight as a moral and ethical error.

The first line of his speech was:

"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation."

- Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have A Dream" speech, Aug. 28, 1963.

The truth of the matter is that he was completely right. No other observation for freedom has surmounted it yet. He then goes on to speak of the lacking display of productivity in regards to freedom for man. This can most certainly be seen today. High and low, examples of inequality and injustice riddle our society - it's quite embarrassing, if you ask me. Knowing that, with all of the insightful things people say, all of the wisdom passed on from older generations to the younger ones, ignorance is still present. Not every human being is perfect nor are they identical. Expectations should never be set so high as to become detrimental to those who may not make the mark.

Even to this very day, with the economies tripping over themselves and the fallacies of celebrities blemishing their honorable names for even more publicity, mankind is lost. We've been searching for our reason to be from day one, and we still have not found an inkling. Would you pardon me to insert an opinionated statement for a moment?

Well, quite frankly, I don't believe that whatever purpose we serve, it is to be inclusive. I am not you, nor are you either of your parents. They have their own purposes and reasons of existence, as do you and I. So, instead of leaving to rest upon the shoulders of others, why not take it into your own hands? It'd help a lot if we all picked up a part of the weight and carried it on one accord.

"When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men -- yes, black men as well as white men -- would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

- Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have A Dream" speech, Aug. 28, 1963.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but that statement blankets the entire existence of mankind. Not just in America, not just for people of "Caucasian" or "African" ethnicity.

Tell me, since when were you any better than anyone else? What makes you more worthy of living a greater life than anyone else? Confidence in yourself is justifiable, but a potential arrogance and contorted and condescending sense most certainly is not. Has hatred or anger ever solved your issues? Has it truly resolved great dilemmas or merely redirected them, simply prolonging their aftermath? If everyone had the mentality to keep to their own and look after one another instead of looking after themselves and keeping after others, then there would be a higher level of trust. It's not easy to simply let things roll off your shoulders, but it's not any easier to bring back millions of individuals who've lost their lives to combat on someone else's behalf.

War is justifiable.

Peace is right.

"This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children."

- Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have A Dream" speech, Aug. 28, 1963.

I had to research what he meant by "gradualism" - it means progressing in gradual steps, as opposed to what I thought of holding an air of condescension over a grand focus of people. And when he spoke of cooling off, he meant the heat that everyone was under from their hands being adjusted - someone else was telling them what to do or mandating something they didn't want to be part of at all. But, contrary to our instinctual medium of comfort, he challenged the people to stay on their toes, to charge forth with all their passions and intentions of making a change - for taking captive this very moment and putting it towards making a brighter and greater future. Not just for their self, but for everyone as well.

"But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence."

- Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have A Dream" speech, Aug. 28, 1963.

It is known that Martin Luther King, Jr. and his followers exemplified a peaceful means of protests. Peace. They got what they wanted, not by raising their voices or raising their fists, but letting their actions of peace and harmony permeate their environments. It settled into others, and those who were not accepting of the idea of peace and harmony reacted with what they were more familiar with - violence. The end result was nothing short of the regression we can witness in our society today.

People committing crimes against one another. It's a sad fact that we gather around the television, looking for entertainment. It's also a sadder fact that the news highlights all the things that are wrong with us. As a people committing crimes against one another - regardless of gender, race, age and what have you - I think it is very likely that we'll be able to lap over ourselves, winking out in existence in an even shorter amount of time in comparison to the rest of the universe's existence.

That's another thing: the universe is so much bigger than just our minds, our bodies, our homes, our backyards, our cities and towns, our states and provinces, our countries and nations, continents and hemispheres. Believe it or not, it's larger than the very world we live on. Whether you would like to explore it or not is your interest, but I know for a fact that I would like to know what's beyond our clouds and beyond the stars of our galaxy. I may not be able to witness it myself, but the thought that, someday, someone will be able to read about my thoughts and possibly know the information I am curious of is a wild thought.

Now, just think of all the people you don't know and all the things they wish to know, to learn, to pass on. Think of all the things you want to know and learn, to be able to do.

It's a common fantasy to be able to fly. Whether you like heights or not, the freedom of flying sounds just as appealing in a dream as it would in real life.

So, why choose something that is most certain out of our reach right now, like flying, when we can act upon the greater and most impressive thing we can right now, like peace? Attaining world peace is a focus that we have not lost sight of, but we're more or less casting to the wayside as individual beings. "Those people in wherever-they-are don't need my help; someone else will help them" or "I can't make a difference because I'm here and they're there" or any thoughts along those lines are absolutely invalid. Null. Void. The reasons we've developed technology should be to make the world a better place, to further our intentions of helping mankind.

We're in a state higher in capability and capacity than Martin Luther King, Jr.'s time, yet I'd say we're in the same exact spot with social and ethical equality. Sure, you can say that racism is diluted or that it no longer even exists, but I know for a fact I hear people whisper and snicker of certain individuals behind their backs. In foreign tongues, in their behaviors, even in the looks they give one another - the unjustified animosities need to be dismissed and attention to mending families, mending friendships, mending societies needs to become one of our main focuses.

I can't sit here and tell anyone how to fix their lives, how to fix the world step-by-step, because I don't know myself. However, I know it's a possibility.

If you were born back in the fifteenth century when horses were the main means of transportation, would you have imagined that we would have been able to send a human being into space via rocket ship?

So, what makes the rocket scientists of half a century ago different from you right now? Your studies overwhelming or your life not turning the way you want it to? It's funny, and you better laugh, because you're greater than those things. That is why they are in your path, so you can overcome them and become a greater individual. Whatever path you're on, know that you are to reach the end, understand that - even if you may stumble and trip along the way - you are not along the journey on your own.

In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.:

"We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back."

- Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have A Dream" speech, Aug. 28, 1963.

If you are not very fond of Christina Aguilera's voice, John's Lennon's voice, or whoever may be performing the song, just read the lyrics below. The message should rightfully snatch your eyes and settle into your brain.

Imagine by John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace

You, you may say
I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world

You, you may say
I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech is identifiable by the words he uses around the end of the speech. He speaks of his dreams, his dreams of the nation rising to live out the truth and underline message of its creed:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

- United States Declaration of Independence, June-July 1776

"All men". While it was a patriarch society, we've evolved as a people to understand it means something greater. That it means everyone. 

Every. 

Single. 

Person.

The rest of his speech is the iconic mention of his children and hopes of them being within a society of transcendence, of the permission of liberty and freedom bells, and of an optimistic envisioning of people coming together. He ends the speech with this following passage:

"Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring -- when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children -- black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics -- will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'"

- Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have A Dream" speech, Aug. 28, 1963.

Whatever nation you're from, whatever gender or persuasion you may be, however you may look or act, know that you are no less nor no greater than the man before you or after you. Know that you are all equal in the sense that you are all capable of magnificent and great things. The capacities of mankind, as evident by the piece of technology you're using to read this now, by the eyes you're reading this with, or by the mind you're understanding it with, are unfathomable.

That is what is unfathomable.

How great you are.

Interesting, is it not?

Well, I hope you've read through most of this, if not the whole thing. Kudos to those who do bother to sit down and read it, whatever time of the day it may be, and gather something from it. But, before I dismiss myself, I'd like to share a tidbit I heard on the radio today. They were leading into a mention of Martin Luther King, Jr. day with a quote from Jimi Hendrix. I thought it'd be pretty cool to share this with you.

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."

- Jimi Hendrix

I, too, have a dream. 

To live happily, bringing about peace and happiness.

<3 ~ Monty.
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