Martin Luther King Jr. was literally a martyr for his cause. He is the champion of fighting for your beliefs, even if it puts your own life and livelihood in danger. He once said those that have nothing worth dying for have nothing worth living for. The Letter from Birmingham Jail is a great example of King's ideology of sacrifice. Last time we talked about how we are all linked in the "single garment of destiny" and are thus marked by "an inescapable network of mutuality". These words are beautiful but they come at a pretty ugly cost. Think about this concept of "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". That means I must be ever vigilant...to everything...all the time. King sacrificed his time, money, reputation, toil and ultimately his life fighting for justice. Yet he was not the only one who suffered. Some had little to no choice in the matter and it makes me wonder something that has been stuck in my brain for years... Is sacrifice selfish? I know it sounds insane but hear me out... I remember with all the momentum in Blacks Live Matter following incidents like Philando Castile and Michael Brown, many people looked at athletes to champion for the cause.
We all know about Colin Kaepernick's action during the national anthem and we also know the subsequent backlash and difficulty the quarterback has faced this off-season trying to find a new team. The NBA, a predominantly African American labor force, was subject to more scrutiny on this issue and their collective action or inaction. Lebron James, unquestionably the biggest star in basketball, has a rather interesting role in all of this. James, along with other NBA luminaries gave an impassioned speech at the ESPYs. He wore an "I Can't Breathe" warm-up shirt for Eric Gardner. He spoke eloquently about the history of racism in America after his house was vandalized. He also made it clear he would stand during the national anthem and proclaimed "All Lives Matter"; "it isn't a white or black thing", he added, In that same press conference he talked about his concern of his children getting pulled over by the police. That's the thing I am realizing now as a father. When you make a sacrifice for the community, your sacrifice impacts all your loved ones, even if they had no vote or say in the matter. Every second one spends championing a cause, going to marches, writing Congressmen, making posters etc. is a second they are missing out on being a spouse, a parent, a sibling...you name it. I know, I know, these are "teachable moments", but at what age does that really make sense? Does a seven-year old want to hear about some form of injustice or play catch with the old man? Is one inherently more valuable than the other? I remember years ago I was talking to a friend about a role model of ours and all the great things he had done for the community but my friend added slyly "maybe he should trying be a dad though." It was hard to argue that all his crusading had left a void in his family, one that could not easily be repaired since it was in such a critical time of the kids lives. Coretta Scott King never gets enough credit for her sacrifice. She knew that her husband's life was in danger every second. Her own life and that of her children were in much greater danger because King was fighting the good fight. She knew that the parenting responsibilities were going to be mostly thrust upon her shoulders. She knew that her husband was going to be gone, months at a time. She knew that she was going to be a celebrity and loved/hated based simply on her relationship to her husband. Many politicians have gotten into politics despite pleas not to from their spouse. Military officers re-enlist even when their spouses beg them not to. Sacrifice is an amazing act of courage and valor. As much as we celebrate these driven people that feel compelled as King said to fight for what they believe in, we cannot ignore the pain it causes in the household. Their actions though can impact millions, give families across the world hope and love that may never have been available before. That is what drives this fire of sacrifice and yet it can burn out of control if not properly checked. Love is an amazing emotion and one that we rarely talk about because Hallmark cards and other institutions have worked so hard to cash in on it and make it cheesy. We all have competing interests for our hearts. Our family, our friends, our community, our country and our fellow man. All of these groups deserve love and yet we are only given so much time. Maybe it's not a zero-sum game all the time but it sure can feel like it. Right now I am writing an article that maybe 40-50 people will read. Maybe one person will comment. Why? Because I believe that this platform can help reach young people and get them to think and reflect upon their lives and the choices they make. I could also be at the pool right now playing with my family. I sacrificed for what I considered to be the "greater good", they are dealing with the ramifications of that decision. King's decisions impacted much more than the man and it is something to keep in mind when reading this Letter. Remember, he wrote it in jail for willingly breaking a law he did not agree with. He is behind bars to make a political statement, consequences be damned. Does that mean we should all escape into our family bubbles and ignore the injustice across the world? No. It does mean though that sacrifice can be measured in more ways than you may have originally thought. Commitment is an essential part of our humanity, it's just up to us to decide who we are committing to each day and do so proudly.
4 Comments
Susan N.
6/22/2017 08:54:20 am
I thought this was a thought-provoking entry, and I have had many of these thoughts myself about what it means to sacrifice oneself for others. I think the person--say, Martin Luther King, Jr--finds himself in a position of almost cognitive dissonance, where he believes in total sacrifice for the greater good, yet he burdens his family and is rarely there for them (and let's not even discuss his affairs--that's certainly not wanting to make the world a better place). In my opinion, he had to have held two opposing sets of morals or ethics in order to operate so differently in both worlds. And so it is with many who make great sacrifices for a larger cause.
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Mr Gibson
6/22/2017 12:32:21 pm
Oh my, I wrote an article that was "thought-provoking", be still my heart!
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Hossein K.
6/22/2017 04:22:20 pm
This got me thinking in terms of how one's competing interests reflect on their sacrifice. As MLK's devotion to civil rights interfered with his family life, I remembered the previous statement that "those that have nothing worth dying for have nothing worth living for" but what if there’s more than one thing that people would die for? I feel that -- ideally -- MLK would have seen both his family and justice as things that he would sacrifice himself for, yet his actions seem as though one cause is prioritized over the other.
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Mr G
6/24/2017 10:15:27 am
Wow, another comment! I guess people wanted to prove me wrong. I do agree that we have competing interests and therefore our scales of commitment cannot be the same. Philosophy talks about the idea of "associations" either voluntary (like a club, cause or university) and involuntary (like your family). How we deal with this conflict is worthy of reflection. I am not saying King was right or wrong, I mean the CRM would be much different if he had stayed home and raised is family...we revere him for his larger sacrifice and rightly. Yet because we are a "single garment", no decision is purely individual. Thanks for the comment!
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