The Martin Luther King Jr Memorial
located on the National Mall on the Tidal Basin in Washington D.C. - Shutterstock
photo
"Our
lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
–
Martin Luther King
President
Reagan once said: “There is something for everyone under the White House
Christmas Tree.” On this day of remembering the onerous efforts of Dr. Martin
Luther King and his desire to protect the natural and God-given rights of every
American, it is only befitting to glance back into our history, to understand
why his ambition was so challenging to consummate – and why it was so
necessary.
"We
must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope."
– Dr.
King
Over
200 years ago, when our founders set out to create a more perfect union of free
men, they knew they could not reinvent the wheel but they could improve upon
it. Gathering in the summer heat of Philadelphia Hall in 1787 to trade barbs
and ideologies about what this union must or must not consist of, they prepared
for a long contentious tirade. What came first, the egg or the chicken, or did
it really matter that much?
“An
investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
– Ben
Franklin
To
accomplish this legislative genesis, they gathered the best and brightest of
patriots with legal integrity to attend this revolutionary convocation. It was
this motley crew with variegated mores and traditions that gathered to piece
together the foundation necessary to forge this near-perfect nation. It was a
country to amend past transgressions of colonial self-governing under its
infamous English kingships.
“We are
all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.”
– Ben
Franklin
Ben
Franklin, our elder founder, met each guest before they entered the hall and
welcomed them for their participation in this assemblage of thinkers, scholars,
political scientists and theorists. As Thomas Paine, the father of our
Revolution and a powerful patriot, arrived at the door laden with a stack of
books in arm, Franklin, his lifelong friend, informed him he would not be
allowed a seat at the table. He placidly told him:
“Whatever
is begun in anger ends in shame.”
– Ben
Franklin
With
his usual calm demeanor, Franklin ushered a visibly upset Paine outside,
consoling him: “Tom, they will not allow you to enter the Convention because of
your views on slavery, universal suffrage and representative government.” A
stunned Paine, clutching a stack of Common Sense books with words scribed on
its pages from patriots about government, vociferated: “How will the voices of
the patriots be heard?” Franklin assured Paine he’d deliver the books to the
round table and evaluate every word written by each patriot. A defeated Paine
retreated to catch the next ship to France.
“It
takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose
it.”
– Ben
Franklin
Every
insightful issue that concerned Paine about our Constitution was to become a
contentious admonition in the coming years. We can only wonder how different
our county would be today if others beside Franklin had believed in him.
“Decisions
made in haste lay to waste.”
– Ben
Franklin
The day
Paine arrived from across the pond in 1774, he witnessed the buying and selling
of slaves in the marketplace. He was awestruck that men and women were chained
and denied their natural and God-given rights of liberty and shackled like
animals in cages. He assumed a position working for the Pennsylvania Magazine,
and began a campaign to end slavery. This did not abide well with many in the
colonies who either owned slaves or profited from buying and selling them.
“A long
habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being
right.”
–
Thomas Paine
As an
enlightened thinker, Paine was concerned the colonies had no representation in
the English Parliament, yet subjects to laws passed with no voice in
legislating. He wrote many pamphlets and essays condemning this autocracy. One
pamphlet enervated the start of the war for independence, "Common
Sense." He decreed that every man and woman in the colonies had the
natural and God-given right to vote on every law that they were governed by.
This went over like a lead balloon until the English needed more money and
forced the colonies to quarter British troops. It took Common Sense to wake up
the slumbering pilgrims.
“Give
me liberty, or give me death.”
–
Patrick Henry
