Sleep

Some choice words from Martin Luther King Jr. (via thenewinquiry):

“I’m sure that you have read that arresting little story from the pen of Washington Irving entitled Rip Van Winkle. The thing that we usually remember about this story is that Rip Van Winkle slept 20 years. But there is another point in that story that is almost always completely overlooked: it was a sign on the inn in the little town on the Hudson from which Rip went up into the mountain for his long sleep. When he went up, the sign had a picture of King George III of England. When he came down, years later, the sign had a picture of George Washington, the first president of the United States. When Rip looked up at the picture of George Washington, he was completely lost; he knew not who he was. This reveals to us that the most striking fact about the story of Rip Van Winkle is not that he slept 20 years, but that he slept through a revolution. While he was peacefully snoring up on the mountain, a great revolution was taking place in the world - indeed, a revolution which would, at points, change the course of history. And Rip Van Winkle knew nothing about it; he was asleep.

There are all too many people who, in some great period of social change, fail to achieve the new mental outlooks that the new situation demands. There is nothing more tragic than to sleep through a revolution. There can be no gainsaying of the fact that a great revolution is taking place in our world today. It is a social revolution, sweeping away the old order of colonialism. And in our own nation it is sweeping away the old order of slavery and racial segregation. The wind of change is blowing, and we see in our day and our age a significant development. Victor Hugo said on one occasion that there is nothing more powerful in all the world than an idea whose time has come. In a real sense, the idea whose time has come today is the idea of freedom and human dignity. Wherever men are assembled today, the cry is always the same, ‘We want to be free.’ And so we see in our own world a revolution of rising expectations. The great challenge facing every individual graduating today is to remain awake through this social revolution.”

- Oberlin College Commencement Address, 1965

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  I wasn’t planning to post anything, as I don’t think that blogging is necessarily the best way to honour the man.  But then I read this quote, and it lays bare some of the questions that I’ve been thinking about lately.  

There are times when I wish that I had lived in the 60s, so that I could have been a part of the great peace and justice movements of that era.  But along with that wish comes a sense of dread that I am living in an era where the Spirit is moving just as lucidly, and yet, like many folks in the 60s, I am too blinded by my privilege and social location to see it; too comfortable, sadly, to act. 

What are the great revolutions of this day?  What am I missing out on?  What have I chosen, subconsciously or consciously, to block out of my sight for the sake of mere convenience?  

How will history judge me?

Who is my neighbour?

I wonder.

(Source: thenewinquiry)

Notes

  1. tapewormshoelace reblogged this from thenewinquiry
  2. borneojim reblogged this from thenewinquiry
  3. teddybearsgummybear reblogged this from thenewinquiry
  4. lilblastcampaign reblogged this from thenewinquiry
  5. daughterofthealchemist reblogged this from thenewinquiry
  6. charkay reblogged this from thenewinquiry
  7. sademburkett reblogged this from thenewinquiry
  8. richwu reblogged this from thenewinquiry and added:
    Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I wasn’t planning to post anything, as I don’t think that blogging is necessarily...
  9. theoceanpadraic reblogged this from notesfromthepatriarchy
  10. rimbaudinablacksweatshirt reblogged this from bohemianarthouse
  11. kropotkinskayastation reblogged this from bohemianarthouse
  12. forgottendance reblogged this from bohemianarthouse
  13. bohemianarthouse reblogged this from thenewinquiry
  14. notesfromthepatriarchy reblogged this from thenewinquiry
  15. thenewinquiry posted this