Honoring MLK

MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2022

Dear Readers: Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! In honor of this great man, I have attached some of the best excerpts from his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. The words today still ring true -that we should be drinking from the cup of truth, love and kindness, and not the cup of hatred and division.

“I say to you today, my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

“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. I have a dream ... I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

“I have a dream today ... I have a dream that one day, every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”

“Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.”

“In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”

“There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, ‘When will you be satisfied!’ ... We are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

“This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning. ‘My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountain side, let freedom ring.’ And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true ...

“When we allow freedom ring -- when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last, Free at last, Great God almighty, We are free at last.’”

Dear Annie: My relationship with my in-laws is a bit strange. I have three children, and my husband’s parents have never shown love or that they care for them, or for my husband and me, for that matter. It breaks my heart that my children do not have a relationship with them, as they are their only grandparents.

When I visit their home, they do not have pictures of my children. They only have pictures of my father-in-law’s grandchildren from his daughter with a previous marriage.

I’ve been married to my husband for more than a decade, and I have never felt accepted by them or even loved. They have not shown any affection toward us or my children. Every time we talk on the phone, it is always awkward, and they never speak to my children the way grandparents should. I would like to cut ties with them and keep them out of our lives. What should I do? -- Broken Heart

Dear Broken Heart: Cutting ties with them seems a bit extreme. Have you asked yourself if you have accepted and loved them? Have you shown affection toward them? I am not blaming you for the relationship but simply suggesting that you look at yourself and how you have treated them.

Why not give them a picture in a nice frame of their grandchildren? Maybe they don’t know how to print out the photos and your father-in-law’s daughter gave them the photo. Send them love and acceptance if that is what you would like from them. If they still cannot return it, just accept that it is their loss and they are missing out on all the love and joy that grandchildren can give.