Long weekends are awesome. Even when they're rainy, cold and dreary (hello Bay Area!) they still rock.
Martin Luther King is now remembered as much for giving us the first holiday of the new year (don't quibble with me over New Year's Day) as for his humanity. But thanks to the early days of television, we can still witness the passion and conviction that were the hallmarks of his short life.
I'm a collector of fabulous speeches (there aren't many, so don't be too impressed—or, you know, too horrified) and they don't get much better than this one. Dr. King was a master of oratory. In an age where people gas on endlessly about every boring thing, King's "I Have a Dream" speech reminds us of the power of speaking truly, simply, and clearly from the deepest places of our hearts.
EXCERPT:
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
Happy Martin Luther King Day.
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Twittering vixenish things @WriterVixen
