Monday, 1/20

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Those of you who have been reading this for a long time know of my deep admiration for the man in whose honor we have a holiday today. And while most people know the Classics Illustrated version of his story--the March on Washington, the “I Have a Dream” speech, and his assassination--I have the feeling that not enough people know about how he led one of the most profound changes in this country’s history, and how the words he spoke throughout that long & contentious change still resonate today.

And that’s a bad thing.

Now, I’m not gonna go off on a rant on how everyone should go out and spend the day studying about his life; after all, you all have your own life to worry about. But every year I like to share a quote of his that may not be quite as famous as “I Have a Dream”. And when looking through some material about him over the weekend, I found one that made me laugh, and not necessarily in a good way.

Here it is--

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

It comes, if I’m not mistaken, from his book “Strength to Love”. If you didn’t know that was written 55 years ago, you’d think he was talking about politics and of the partisan divide of American electorate today. Or that he was talking about one of the endless ways many Americans just seem to want to float through life without challenging themselves.

Now, I know I’m out of the ordinary. God, do I know I’m out of the ordinary. But it seems to me that going through life trying to take the path of least resistance--the “easy” way out--is nothing more than cheating yourself and cheating the people around you. After all, we all have a finite amount of time on this planet. Shouldn’t we make sure that the time we do have is put to good use? Shouldn’t we continue to learn and give ourselves new experiences?

Sadly, most people don’t put their limited time on this planet to good use. Did you know that 35% of Americans, once they graduate from high school, never read a book again? I mean, really? How can you hope to learn--how can you hope to challenge yourself, to better yourself--if you don’t read? Another great American philosopher (I’ll tell you who in a second) once said “TV has all the answers”. And sadly, I think too many people believe that. Too many people sit and watch and blindly follow the marching orders of their favorite partisan news channel or their favorite reality TV star and never stop to think or to question for themselves. There’s more to life than what you watch or what you’re told by TV, although I don’t think the philosopher who said that “TV has all the answers” would agree.

Especially because that philosopher is Homer Simpson.

So in honor of Dr. King, think for yourself today. Challenge yourself today. Prove that our universal quest doesn’t lie in easy answers, but that it lies in people willing to search for the hard truths.

(jim@wmqt.com)