Motivated by the Life of Martin Luther King Jr.
By Marissa Joseph '19 - '19
This speech was given during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Chapel Service, led by the IMPACT team, on Jan. 19.
In a time when some Americans are weeping and others rejoicing, we remember a man who marched to a sometimes misremembered beat, Martin Luther King Jr. Many remember only pieces of his story, and his name has gotten lost in translation somewhere in between the “I have a dreams” and the numerous Instagram posts about what people believe he died for.
It is important that on this day we remember Martin Luther King Jr. was just a man. Sometimes we get so awestruck by his heroism, we omit his human. We forget that the only thing that stands between the mark we leave on this world and the crater he left is his abundance of courage and our lack thereof.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day should not just be a celebration of a man with the strength to raise his voice, but also a reminder to us all to strive to lift ours even higher. This day is a jolt of energy in the midst of the chaos of our world where we can look back on his struggles, and the struggles of those who fought beside him, and let it ignite you with passion and cast a shadow on your fears.
At Darlington we try to embody the philosophy of service beyond self, and each time we recite our motto the objective of those five syllables never seems out of our reach. So why when we look at men like Martin Luther King Jr., who led a life guided by our motto, do we see his work and impact as being remote and unattainable?
He was a man, just like any other man or woman at Darlington who was doing a service to his community and to the civil rights movement. The same way many of us go to servant leadership once or twice a week on the Dar bus. It is all service, so who is to say that one day your service and your courage might not have influence like Dr. King’s did? No one; however, you won’t know until you break down that barrier in your mind that the heroes we read about in our textbooks will never fit your description. Everybody can be great because everybody can serve.
When we remember him today, it is important that we do not only commemorate his name, but acknowledge that it gives us all the more power to create change because of those who came before us like Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. King was not a superhero or supernatural being, he was an average man much like you and me, and there is nothing stopping you from being at the forefront of a movement or innovating change in our society just like he did. So I challenge you to use the words of Martin Luther King Jr. and this day of celebration to pilot your hopes, help combat your fears, push you to take a stand.
