Reflections on the Anniversary of King’s Death: April 4, 1968 – April 4, 2008:

John Suárez

“Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.” Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall – think of it, always.” Mohandas K. Gandhi

Forty years ago today, April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. met his end at the hands of an assassin’s bullet at the age of 39. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi another apostle of non-violence met his end on his way to morning prayers at the hands of an assassin’s bullet murdered sixty years ago at the age of 79 on January 30, 1948. Steven Bantu Biko, nonviolent student leader and anti-apartheid activist, was brutally beaten to death by South African police on September 12, 1977 at the age of 30. Benigno Aquino Jr. returned to the Philippines on board a commercial jet from exile to carry on his struggle for democracy in the face of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship only to meet with an extrajudicial execution by government forces at the airport on August 21, 1983 at age 50.

Josef Stalin executioner of more than 20 million Russians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Ukrainians, and Georgians died in bed at age 74 on March 5, 1953. Mao Ze Dong murderer of tens of millions of Chinese and the invader and occupier of Tibet died in his bed on September 9, 1976 at age 82. Kim Il-sung the terrible of tyrant of North Korea died in bed on July 8, 1994 at age 82 and handed power over to his son Kim Jong Il who continues to rule over that kingdom with a totalitarian iron fist. Even Adolph Hitler did not die by another’s hand but by his own at the age of 56 on April 30, 1945 after wreaking havoc that killed tens of millions and necessitated the recognition of an especially horrendous crime in the annals of international law: genocide. In Cuba today, just as in Haiti and Nicaragua before a cruel dictator hands power over to a relative as he lays dying.

Above we see with this list of names and the lives of civil and political leaders they represent that Gandhi was right: “Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.”

All of these individuals whether they did great good or great evil were just human beings who made choices. These choices had and continue to have consequences in the World. Every day we have choices to make. Shall we act out of despair or hope; hatred or love; selfishness or self-sacrifice. These are choices we make everyday, and every decision is like a rock dropped into a lake with ripples spreading out across the water’s surface. Some rocks are bigger than others and leave a bigger wake, but all have an impact from the smallest to the largest. It is the same with our actions but the “lake” is much bigger it is the Universe. That is why Mohandas Gandhi called on everyone: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” None of these men were perfect neither perfectly evil nor perfectly good, but through their choices they did great good or great evil.

Clare Booth Luce said that “no good deed goes unpunished,” but many forget that she also said: ‘In the final analysis there is no other solution to man's progress but the day's honest work, the day's honest decision, the day's generous influences, and the day's good deed.” The Baptist Minister born in Atlanta Georgia understood this as did the attorney trained in India, as did the South African student leader and Philippine journalist and political activist. Doing the right thing does not guarantee safety, security, fame or wealth but it does guarantee something infinitely more important: peace of mind. The ability to sleep soundly at night and the growth of one’s soul through the obstacles and real suffering faced.

On April 3, 1968 Reverend King, gave his final speech I’ve been to the Mountaintop. He made biblical references to Moses who had served God’s purposes, but due to his own inadequacies would only be able to see the Promised Land not actually get to it. He spoke of the attempt on his life early in the Civil Rights movement when a demented black woman attacked him with a letter opener plunging it into his chest fractions of an inch from piercing his aorta, which would have led to him bleeding out and dying on the spot. He went on to describe the one letter that he could still remember among many sent to him as a convalesced in a Harlem hospital. They had opened his chest to remove the letter opener lodged so near to his heart. He did not remember what the letter from the President of the United States said, or that of the Governor, or the numerous other famous people who wrote to him, but a little school girl who said that she had read how if he had but sneezed that letter opener would’ve pierced his heart and he would have died. She was glad that he had not sneezed. He shared her sentiment, and went to list all that he would not have experienced if had died that day, but completed his summation of all that had been accomplished saying that he feared nothing because he had been to the mountain top and was a servant of God with references to longevity being something positive but not necessary.

The next day he was gone, but you reading this essay are still here. Will you be the change you want to see in the world? Will you do the good deed even if you know that the consequences will not benefit you personally but to the contrary cause you pain? You should ask yourself that question everyday. It isn’t easy, but no one ever said life was going to be.

If you watch or listen to this last speech in which King foreshadows his own death you still see a man in love with life and without fear. It is because Reverend King believed as a man of God in a universe which is morally transcendent: “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

John Suarez is a human rights activist. He is a graduate of the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria  with a Masters Degree, in  Political Action and of Florida International University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences