If you haven’t read The Trumpet of Conscience, a book of the last speeches given by Martin Luther King Jr., go right now and get it. Right now! You’ll finish it in no time, and if you changed a few dates and names of wars, you’d swear it was written today.
An excerpt. This was written forty years ago.
“The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. [...] A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. [...] If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.”
2 Comments
What amazes me is that people have had and continue to have these insights about America, but the public and government sentiment has not changed. Americans continue to be ignorant and arrogant, saddling future generations with the increasingly difficult task of changing the direction of this country. I hope Obama can begin turning things around because I’m not sure how much more damage America’s reputation can take.
Yes, these ideas are certainly not new. I guess we’re afraid–peace is much scarier than aggression. Jesus was preaching nonviolence 2,000 years ago, yet even Christians support war. I think we’re afraid to believe that peace is a viable option because we feel that would take away some of our control (which is our favorite thing, up there with money, which of course gives us the illusion of control).