Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Enduring Lessons on Value

Enduring the current economic times is tantamount to embracing a new subject of study; one where your livelihood and that of your love ones is at stake. The folk who could possibly provide some insight on how to endure mounting losses of both practical and physical natures are all gone: our ancestors who survived the Great Depression. No other economic event in this nation’s history compares or comes close. Compromising one’s integrity or moral fortitude can falsely look like viable options with innocent little faces looking up for more food. Or, watching a beloved family patriarch take half of a prescribed dose instead of a whole. Or, having America’s top cop, J. Edgar Hoover, designate you public enemy No. 1. Dr. King had many a foe, several of whom posed a threat to life, limb and family. Yet, he never compromised his purpose: civil rights for all. Whether he fought for it alone or with many, he lived and breathed this fight with purpose. He consciously took this position and answered with action. He was very much a student and follower of Jesus, the Christ who set the finest example of living with purpose and demonstrated that without action there can be no real purpose.