[Thoughts on] MLK's I Have a Dream speech

A friend of mine wrote me as a response to this blog that she is interested in reading about Martin Luther King and reading more of his writings. I have only read his historic I Have A Dream speech (which you can read in its entirety by clicking on the link) which he delivered in Washington in August of 1963.

Because she asked me about it, and also thanks to Obama's references to the man and his words in his inaugural speech, I started to think about the original speech again and what I thought about it the last time I read it (the first time I read it was in elementary school, I believe, but I didn't remember much about it).

There are many incredible passages, inspiring, wise and poetic phrases throughout the speech, but to me there is one phrase that just sticks in my mind and still awes me. Dr. King says this phrase after the fourth of his "I have a dream" statements and it goes:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

If you are a parent, especially the parent of a minority, it is clear that you don't want your children judged by the color of their skin, or their religion, or their sexual orientation, or I don't know what. We could also make the question even more personal and ask what we might want to be judged by? Would it be our actions, intentions, charitable acts, contributions, by how the lives of others would be in your absence (like in Capra's It's a Wonderful Life), by the love we have given or received, by how many friends we have, I don't know actually, probably I would prefer not to be judged.

'by the content of their character'! How brilliant is that?! I am not even sure what it means but at the same time I soooo know what it means and it is incredibly clear. Everything that makes us who we are and how we act - in general and in regards to others; five words to rule them all: the content of our characters.

An admirable man, an admirable legacy...

PS. If you do know of a good book by or on Dr. Martin Luther King please let me know - maybe you could even comment directly to this post and thus share it directly with my intellectually curious friend.