Martin Luther King Jr. Essay

Martin Luther King Jr. Essay

by: G

age 14

Every day is different because we make it different. Every person is different, just like a snowflake. But they are different in a way that helps support the world in the society we live in today, like individual snowflakes; they all contribute significantly to the beauty and peace of a winter storm. And one idea that a person develops can change the world’s perception on life, for the better; simply because it’s new.

“Martin Luther king began his long and strenuous quest On December 1, 1955, when forty-three year old Rosa Parks boarded a Montgomery, Alabama city bus after finishing work as a tailor's assistant at the Montgomery Fair department store. As all black patrons were required to do, she paid her fair at the front of the bus and then re-boarded in the rear. She sat in a vacant seat in the back next to a man and across the aisle from two women.

After a few stops, the seats in the front of the bus became full, and a white man who had boarded stood in the aisle. The bus driver asked Parks, the man next to her, and the two women to let the white man have their seats. As the others moved, Parks remained in her seat. The bus driver again asked her to move, but she refused. The driver called the police, and she was arrested. She did not know it at the time, but this courageous act would lead to a 382 day bus boycott and the desegregation of buses throughout the United States…” These were the circumstances of Dr. King as described by Jessica McElrath.

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. A dream that was distinguishable from all others! He took the ideas from this dream to make one of the most famous speeches in American history. His speech is called “I have a dream.” The definition of dream as is follows: something of unreal beauty. What Martin saw was solely of an unbeknown beauty that was just waiting to be discovered, as if he knew the beauty that could be of a winter storm. The kind of beauty and peace we still are discovering today.

One quote from this speech is: "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." For Dr. King to have the ability then to see someone for who they are and not for the color of their skin, their economical standings, or the level of education they have achieved. This ability must be a privilege that, I bet you, is taken for granted by so many today, and yet undiscovered by some.

Martin Luther King was a man that could indeed see people for who they are and what their potential was. He saw America during its most difficult time. The citizens of this country were in peril they were confused and felt threatened thus they resulted in violence and outrage. Famously quoted, "Peace cannot be achieved through violence; it can only be attained through understanding." These wise words from Ralph Waldo Emerson present an inference that violence truly cannot be obtained thru violence but rather by the concept of awareness that we all were created in the image of God to be like Him. And that one person cannot become magnificent without others; without the comprehension that in order to make a snow fort we need each of the individual, the different but necessary snowflakes, to bond together and make something that we all can benefit from.

Martin Luther king saw this violence and realized that it is indeed the last resort a coward has to rely on. Martin Luther king saw this and decided to initiate the undoing of racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. His reputation to do this preceded him. He was so influential that at his “I have a dream” speech in 1963 during the March on Washington there were over two hundred thousand people in attendance.

I have had the chance to hear the stories of the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination. On April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis Tennessee. As he lay sprawled on the floor of the balcony blood dripping from his neck; a great man lies dead, a legend was born.

This man gave up his life for a protest against discrimination and violence. James Earl Ray was the man arrested for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. But many think he is innocent, even the family of Martin himself continue to wonder.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of great ability and great accomplishment. Lloyd Alexander once said "Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress." This is a quote that can describe each and every one of us if we allow it to. Who we are today is only part of who we are becoming tomorrow. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of superb brilliance that took this statement to mind and, therefore, set forth on what he knew would change the world as he had known it. He believed, yes, he had a dream.

Here dies a man who understood what he wanted and he fought for it, his honor, his life, his legacy is testimony of his words, his beliefs, and in losing his life he bore the dream to our Nation. The members of his family and all of those who believed in what he so profoundly spoke of remember his legacy and honor it; those that don’t are truly in a state of confusion. Confused that only one man, Martin Luther King Jr. had enough emotion and willpower to perceive something they couldn’t fathom. Martin Luther King Jr. knew what the problem was; he saw it and went forth so that his children could have a better life. I will let Thomas Carlyle congratulate Martin on his achievements by saying: “Let each become all that he was created capable of being.” Which is exactly what Martin wanted; his dream has become our reality.