I Have Had Dreams

I was only 9 years old when Dr. King was taken from us, but I remember him pretty well.

The quality of his oratory certainly holds up over the years, but I worry that history can't capture the way it really felt.

So, I have to write about it.

The 1960's were exciting. Frightening.

"There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I've got to beware..."
-Stephen Stills-

It's hard to describe, surely hard for a young person to imagine, exactly what the civil rights leaders were up against. Of all his skills as an inspirational leader, what Martin Luther King had was courage. Boundless infinite courage. You just don't see that every day. I'm grateful to have seen it in my lifetime.

I see a little of it when Obama gets in the groove. He and I are about the same age, I'll wager we feel the same awe about this day - and the frustration that the promise of the "revolution" in the 60's fell so far short. I've often wished we could fire up the hippies one last time and kick this thing in a positive direction.