The powerful refrain from the 1789 French Revolution echoed in my mind--Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood--as I walked across campus in the frigid sub-zero day searching for any signs of life (or any unlocked building, so I can warm myself up.) I didn't know how the deceptively simple yet beautifully profound revolutionary slogan--and also the national motto for the French Republic, and a zillion times more inspirational than Malaysia's "Bersekutu Bertambah Mutu"--crept into my head since I was cussing profusely under my visibly cold breath at all the locked buildings on campus while looking for a warm place to temporarily defrost. Anyway, I wonder who came up with this slapdash, utterly unimaginative Malaysian cogankata, or even the national anthem for that matter? The only reason why I remember the Malaysian motto so vividly is because I always associate it with the notorious blood-sucking insect, kutu, or head lice as you Westerners might call it.
It suddenly dawned on me that today is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; hence, a public holiday. I felt so stupid for being unreasonably mad and I was also angry at myself for going out of the house in the blistering cold for nothing. I knew that today is Dr. King's day but that fact somehow eluded me when I got out of the bed this morning. What does this has to do with the French Revolution? Not much, I guess, other than it is an apt metaphor for such an important day: In July 14, 1789, the French Revolution, precipitated by the storming of Bastille, toppled the long-entrenched ancien régime of the powerful clerics and nobles; in 1964 and 1965, due to long and tireless efforts by Dr. King and other civil rights revolutionaries before him, the US Congress finally passed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act respectively that radically changed the socio-political landscape of America.
Well, realizing that there wasn't anything much I can do around campus, I decided to hop on the bus and swing by Rochambo for some coffee and crosswords. Finally, in honor of Dr. King's day, I'd like to include some excerpts from his various speeches and letter.
Excerpt from the "I Have A Dream" speech (Aug 28, 1963: Washington, DC)
"This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let 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!"
Excerpts from his various letters:
"Democracy is the greatest form of government to my mind that man has ever conceived, but the weakness is that we have never touched it. Isn't it true that we have often taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes? Isn't it true that we have often in our democracy trampled over individuals and races with the iron feet of oppression? Isn't it true that through our Western powers we have perpetuated colonialism and imperialism?"
"There's another reason why you should love your enemies, and that is because hate distorts the personality of the hater. We usually think of what hate does for the individual hated or the individuals hated or the groups hated. But it is even more tragic, it is even more ruinous and injurious to the individual who hates. You just begin hating somebody, and you will begin to do irrational things. You can't see straight when you hate. You can't walk straight when you hate. You can't stand upright. Your vision is distorted."
And his other quotes that resonate the most with me:
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
"Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals."
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
No comments:
Post a Comment