I was sent this today. It is important to read at least once a year. It is from “Where Do We Go From Here?” by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and was delivered on August 16, 1967. It was his last address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference before his assassination:
“ . . .One of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites, polar opposites, so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love. . . Now we got to get this thing right. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and the love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best—power at its best—is love implementing the demands of justice. And justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love. . . And the other thing is, I’m concerned about a better world. I’m concerned about justice. I’m concerned about brotherhood. I’m concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence, you may murder a murderer, but you can’t murder murder. Through violence, you may murder a liar, but you can’t establish truth. Through violence, you may murder a hater, but you can’t murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that. And so I say to you today, I have also decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind’s problems. And I’m going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn’t popular to talk about it in some circles today. And I’m not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love; I’m talking about a strong, demanding love. For I have seen too much hate. I’ve seen too much hate on the faces of sheriffs in the South. I’ve seen too much hate on the faces of too many Klansmen and too many White Citizen Councilors in the South to want to hate, myself, because every time I see it, I know that it does something to their faces and their personalities, and I say to myself that hate it too great a burden to bear. I have decided to love. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love. And the beautiful thing is that we aren’t moving wrong when we do it, because John was right, God is love. He who hates does not know God, but he who loves has the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.”