Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior Day – January 17, 2022

Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior Day is often abbreviated as MLK Day. It likely has the most substantial name of all the important Holidays of American Culture, but was given one of the briefest of abbreviations. It is no wonder; but is it fair.

Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior earned all of his credentials. He attained his Baccalaureate at Morehouse College. He attained his Baccalaureate in Divinity at Crozer Theological Seminary. He attained his Doctorate at Boston University. He was the son of Martin Luther King Senior, a revered Pastor, Missionary and Civil Rights Activist.

Nonetheless, to many of his time, he was merely ‘black’.

Many described him more disparagingly than that. They needed others to blame for social dysfunction. They needed others to oppress. They needed others to fear.

Many people still believe that they need this. If they are unable to blame, oppress and fear those who are racially different, they rely on others who are differently different.

How pitiable. No one should maintain such extreme self disdain that they rely on others for self validation. No one should need to be unjustifiably disparaging to anyone else.

Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior said, “You know, a lot of people don’t love themselves. And they go through life with deep and haunting emotional conflicts. So the length of life means that you must love yourself. And you know what loving yourself also means? It means that you’ve got to accept yourself.”, and furthermore, “Hate is just as injurious to the hater as it is to the hated. Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Many of our inner conflicts are rooted in hate. This is why psychiatrists say, “Love or perish.” Hate is too great a burden to bear.”.