I Have a Dream

Racism and hatred are two of the ugliest concepts that plague our world. Hatred is the destroyer of men. While violence, words, and deeds carried out in hatred can destroy lives and property; it is the hatred within that causes the most destruction to our societies and to our souls. Our greatest enemy is the devil, who hates us all and wants us to hate each other. Shall we glorify him by fostering the hate and giving in to it? Perhaps, our greatest enemy then is ourselves, since the devil can suggest the hate to our psyche, but he can’t make us savor it. That is the choice we make for ourselves.

Some people can only feel hatred for what they don’t understand, calling what they see "ugly" without looking to see what is underneath...while if they looked behind their own mask they would see the true ugliness that defines the ugliness they see in others. 

I believe that Jesus had an additional agenda when he said to love our enemies, that it was not merely for the sake of love that he commanded us to love them. If we loved our enemies and did good things for them, helping them and blessing them, how could we still hate them and call them our enemies? Now if only all the people of the world could grasp that as well.

   Martin Luther King Jr. said:

   "Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.... The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”

   "Now first let us deal with this question, which is the practical question: How do you go about loving your enemies? I think the first thing is this: In order to love your enemies, you must begin by analyzing self. And I’m sure that seems strange to you, that I start out telling you this morning that you love your enemies by beginning with a look at self. It seems to me that that is the first and foremost way to come to an adequate discovery to the how of this situation." --Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968)

   "A second thing that an individual must do in seeking to love his enemy is to discover the element of good in his enemy, and every time you begin to hate that person and think of hating that person, realize that there is some good there and look at those good points which will over-balance the bad points." ~Martin Luther King Jr.

I wrote this about 20 years ago:

“What’s Up, My Brother?”

I was walking down a common road, a simple day like any other

When a black man said to me, “Whassup, my brother?”

At first I gave no thought to what the guy had said

But then I saw the light, and the truth in my head

Different colors to the eye

But why the discord? I don’t know why

Racism is the devil’s lie

We must overcome; it’s worth the try

The Father creator made us each a certain way

Two different forms from one piece of clay

He made him black; he made me white

He made him dark; he made me light

But we both came from the same ancestral mother

It’s time to remember, we are each the other’s brother

God the Father, God the Son

Creator and redeemer loving each and every one

God the Holy Ghost favors neither one the most

Together when we reach Heaven

Side by side we’ll meet the Host

Combined on this Earth we compose the human race

We can’t judge a man by the color of his face

We are each the same, no different from the other

Which was emphasized today when a black man called me brother!