On December 10th, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr., at age 35, was the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, turning the $54,124 prize money to the furtherance of the civil rights movement. He gave his acceptance speech on this day. His peaceful journey for Civil Rights had just begun to make a dent in the consciousness in the country and worldwide.
This time of year is called a time of peaceful tidings. Peaceful communication. Our collective intention today is in remembrance and an irrigation of peace and solidarity within. Use your breath and the intention to siphon positive energy inwards and radiate peace outwards.
Martin Luther Kings acceptance speech will color our postures and practice and words of wisdom will inspire our intention. Let it grow and let all the rest go as we practice.
Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood.
I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history.
I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him.
I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him.
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight that the bright daybreak of peace can never become a reality.
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.
I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow.
I still believe that We Shall overcome!
This faith can give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future.
When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born.
I am always mindful of the many people who make a successful journey possible - the known pilots and the unknown ground crew.
…all those to whom beauty is truth and truth beauty - and in whose eyes the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious
In addition…
Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.
If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.
Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'
Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
The time is always right to do what is right.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.
We are not makers of history. We are made by history.
We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.