Holiday
Today is a national holiday here in the U.S. It’s a day where we celebrate the birthday of a great American, born and raised in the south, who lived and died for what he believed…
Thank you.
What?
Thank you. Today is my birthday.
Um, I was actually talking about Martin Luther King.
Excuse me?
Yes, sir. You. Today’s a national holiday celebrating your birthday.
My birthday was Thursday.
Pardon?
I was born January 15th, 1929. 80 years ago. It was a Tuesday. I don’t remember, of course, but I was told it was a Tuesday.
I was born on January 19th. In 18-aught-7.
Shouldn’t that be “naught-7″…
Son, don’t correct your elders.
Um. Sorry.
As I was saying, I was born on January 19th, some 202 years ago. So, today’s my birthday.
But today’s the day we celebrate Dr. King’s birthday.
Son, I believe you said the birthday of a man “born and raised in the south, who lived and died for he believed” … didn’t you?
Well, yes.
And today is my birthday…
He’s right, son.
Yes, sir, I understand. But it’s your birthday, Dr. King…
No, son, it’s not.
I understand, sir. But it’s the day we celebrate your birthday.
Why on earth would you celebrate my birthday on a day other than my birthday?
Well, most federal holidays are moved to a Monday.
Why? Because it’s convenient?
Well, yes, actually, when you get right down to it.
Oh. So I’m remembered when it’s convenient? I’m honored with a sale at Sears and Roebuck? People who wouldn’t know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for whom I was but a poor spokesman, call on my name but have no idea what I was really all about?
He’s asking good questions, son.
Was it convenient when my house in Montgomery was bombed during the bus boycott? Does a sale at the shopping mall remind you of the dream of which I spoke in our nation’s capital? Does sleeping late and taking a day off work remind you of my tireless efforts in the fight against discrimination in Albany, Birmingham, St. Augustine, or Selma?
Um…
But you want to celebrate my birthday on a day when it’s convenient, so you can go out of town for a long weekend?
Ah. Um.
You don’t have to say anything, son. But, I didn’t give my life for a “convenient” birthday celebration. Besides, it’s not about me. It’s about freedom. It’s about equality. And as long as people strive for freedom and equality, that’s what’s important. But people shouldn’t take one day a year … particularly the wrong day … but should be fighting every day for freedom.
In, 1963, I said “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.” We have not yet reached that day.
But tomorrow…
Tomorrow, a black man becomes president. And as long as people judge him as a black man, and not on his character, this nation will not have reached the day that my dream is fulfilled.
Some people voted against him because of his color. Others voted for him because of his color. Both of those votes are out of line with my dream. But those that voted for him … or for his opponent … because of the character of the man … those are the ones that are living my dream.
But many feel that Barack Obama’s election brings us closer to that day.
The teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will bring us closer to that day. Jesus Christ taught us to all love one another. Jesus Christ taught us that we are all God’s children. Jesus Christ taught us that we are all part of the family of God, and that we’ll all be together one day. Jesus Christ taught us that He is the way to eternal salvation. And if He is the way to salvation, surely He is the way to peace and harmony in our land.
Do not remember me by saving a dollar at J.C. Penney. Remember instead that I was just a poor, black preacher, who was saved by the grace of God though His Son, Jesus Christ. And He can save us all. And our country, if we just follow Him.
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(125 votes, average: 4.99 out of 5)
January 19th, 2009 at 1:17 am
Awesome. Thank you Basil. You just blessed my socks off.
January 19th, 2009 at 1:24 am
Jesus Christ taught that there were two great commandments.
To love the Lord your God with you whole heart, mind and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself. (on these hang all the laws and the prophets is the rest of the scripture).
Dr. King understood this principle. I am sad to think how he must feel watching what people of all colors have done in the name of his dream.
Thank you Basil, that was awesome.
January 19th, 2009 at 1:39 am
Brilliant. Thanks.
January 19th, 2009 at 2:00 am
Amen.
January 19th, 2009 at 4:17 am
Absolutely great!!!!!!!
January 19th, 2009 at 5:13 am
(applauding wildly)
January 19th, 2009 at 7:03 am
That was excellent
January 19th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Excellent
January 19th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Entertaining and effective. You’re at the top of your game.
January 19th, 2009 at 8:18 am
That was great.
January 19th, 2009 at 8:24 am
I always thought it was a touch ironic that we celebrate MLK Day by not working.
Mitch Rapp
January 19th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Bravo!
January 19th, 2009 at 10:08 am
Quite right.
January 19th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Well done!!!
January 19th, 2009 at 10:29 am
I loved it!
January 19th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Absolutely… spot on. Some people are blessed with the ability to do this. Good work. Oh.. and Happy Birthday Robert E Lee.
January 19th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Wonderfully written.
January 19th, 2009 at 11:01 am
[...] What incredible irony. As we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., [...]
January 19th, 2009 at 11:02 am
It’s Penney.
J. Cash Penney. Philanthropist, Mason, and born-again Christian.
Who met his payrolls after the crash by cashing in his personal life insurance.
Revile if you must, but spell his name right.
[Corrected. As a JCPenney card holder, I should obviously know better. - B]
January 19th, 2009 at 11:08 am
[...] This is from IMAO, and if you read it all it will make you think http://www.imao.us/index.php/2009/01/holiday/ [...]
January 19th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Excellent! I have liberal friends who seem to think that voting for the Obama is their chance at being part of history. Never mind that a vote cast based on skin color is inherently ignorant & racist; but they also fail to realize that all this “first-adjective” talk about him being the first black president is patronizing. Any person elected to the office of POTUS is president, there’s no qualifier in front of that word.
January 19th, 2009 at 11:55 am
This is excellent. Thanks, Basil!
January 19th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
I get the day off…YAYYYYY…wait a minute…I’m an independent consultant…I don’t make any money if I don’t work…umm…Hey…!!!
January 19th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Glad to see I’m not the only one who shares the opinion from “tomorrow, a black man becomes president.”
January 19th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I was expecting a big laugh at the end. Instead I got something much better. Well done, Basil.
January 19th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Great thoughts, sadly, it will pass through too many ears without any consideration.
January 19th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
So I am living the dream. I voted against that one on the content of his lack of character.
January 19th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Basil, Excellent job. I’m So glad I’m living his dream. If he were still alive and had ran for Pres I’d have voted for him. Just because of his character.
January 19th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Thanks +1, Basil! I am blessed to have read that. I hope that I am not alone.
January 19th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
This made me go and look up Gen. Lee. I knew this stuff about him, but it’s good to remember his greatness and nobility
January 19th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
You hit the nail on the head! It’s funny how many times libtards would invoke Dr. King during a political debate in this last electoral farce. “You just don’t want to see an African American in the white house (boiling over as liberals often do)!”
“No, I won’t vote for him because I despise the content of his character…isn’t that what really for which Dr. King was crusading? Besides…if you are so tolerant, why do you call him an African American…I consider him American, and nothing short of a thinker on par with our founding fathers. To brand him a hyphenated American would be to consider him something less, and doesn’t that go against everything in which Dr, King believed?”
(Liberal’s head explodes from input of reason and fact).
January 19th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Any one else miss WUZZADEM?…..anybody……Bueller, Bueller
[Oh, my gosh! Yes, we miss John greatly. - B]
January 19th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
I could not agree more with Eros #31, and Hapkido #21. All hyphenations and/or qualifiers added to the title of American SHOULD be regarded as belittling to all. Consider this, “Any man who says he is an American but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag……and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that loyalty is to the American people.”
Theodore Roosevelt in a letter to the American Defense Society in 1919. He was referring to illegal immigration, but I believe we should ask no less of ourselves.
It is the individuals that insist on pointing to ANYONE”S ethnicity that perpetuate a racist attitude in the country.Ethnicity is important when considering a medical background, NOT an ideological one!
January 19th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Thanks, Basil. Wonderful post.
January 19th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
That’s the most profound thing I’ve ever read here! Thank you!
January 19th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Amen! Brilliant!
January 19th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
If only 10% of the millions standing on the Washington Mall tomorrow would read that and see the real meaning of MLK’s Dream our Nation would be several steps closer.
Outstanding work.
January 20th, 2009 at 12:14 am
Awesome! Love it! That really hits the mark of why I didn’t vote for Obama. Not because he’s black, but because his ideas stink.
January 20th, 2009 at 11:57 am
#27 & #38: me too.
January 20th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
I will always celebrate it as Robert E. Lee day now. Awesome.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Huzzahs are in order. Good job, Basil.
January 21st, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Amen and preach it!
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Very revealing post about our country’s progress.
Down here in Alabama, school children are off for the MLK/Lee Day. BOTH names are listed for the holiday.