Truth Will Have Final Word in Reality

This is an excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.'s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech in December of 1964. I was turned onto it when read it in the program for an Olympia Family Theater production of Korczak's Children, which is about the Warsaw Ghetto in Nazi Poland.
I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today's motor bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up...

No comments:

Post a Comment

 
Aldo Leopold: "We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect."

keywords: peace, justice, truth, love, wisdom, common sense, ethics, nonviolence, compassion, communication, community, egalitarian, equitable, society, culture, future, politics, government, public interest, sustainability, economy, ecology, nature, beauty, urban issues, environment, wilderness, energy, industry, reciprocity, karma, dignity, honor, patience, life, photography, music, flowers, and more!