Let Peace Begin With Me
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I Have A Dream" speech at the March on Washington, August 28, 1963.
Last Monday in the late afternoon I took a walk downtown, listening to NPR’s evening news program All Things Considered on my radio, something I love to do when I get the chance. One of the stories was a report on the 50th anniversary of a speech given by George Wallace in 1963 at his inauguration as governor of Alabama. In the speech Wallace promoted “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.”
In the course of the story, Georgia Congressman John Lewis was interviewed. Congressman Lewis commented on the power of what he called “mean-spirited and hateful words.”
“Wallace never pulled a trigger or fired a gun,” he said, “but he created an environment where others would.” That insight has remained with me. Sometime later Wallace asked to see Congress Lewis. Perhaps ironically, Wallace was a victim of gun violence and paralyzed in 1972, but from his wheelchair he apologized for his words and actions. Lewis said of course he forgave him, but it was important that he (and we) never forget that piece of our history.
We have certainly made progress with that issue; we are about to re-inaugurate President Obama and remember Rev. Martin Luther King Jr’s non-violent contributions to promoting civil rights, but we continue to deal with important and contentious issues about which people have passion: health care; the economy; abortion; and now gun violence, to name a few. We still sometimes hear (and engage in) mean-spirited and hateful speech. The conversations are happening not only in the halls of Congress but in the living room and around the dinner table. The Wallace/Lewis retrospective made me think about what kind of environment we create and promote with our words. Our words may seem so insignificant, but while we may never pull a trigger, we may be encouraging an atmosphere where others will. Let peace begin with me.
Learn more about the Beloved Community that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. envisioned at The King Center.
Fr. Jeffrey Scheeler, OFM, is the Provincial Minister of the Province of St. John the Baptist.
Posted in: Uncategorized
