Martin

I think the reason Martin was such a great speech-giver was all in his delivery. His speeches were like songs, and so we remember not only the words, but the emotions, his and our own, that accompanied them. Here's a re-run of my post from last year

The Interrelated Structure of Reality

I was listening to someone on the radio talking about Martin yesterday and was surprised to learn that he made up (on the spot!) the last part of his most famous speech; I also learned the following:

-More people in the world recognize and can identify the I Have A Dream speech than any other.

-Martin was born with the name Michael but his father changed it to Martin Luther when he was 5.

-He went to college when he was 15.

-He sang with his church choir at the premier of Gone With the Wind.

-He was the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

-He was stabbed in the chest at a book signing in Harlem and almost died 10 years before his assassination.

-At the time, the March on Washington was the biggest gathering of protesters in history.

All I'm saying is simply this, that all life is interrelated, that somehow we're caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.

— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.^[30]