Service (Grace and Love)

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday has become synonymous with a ‘Day of Service.’  We are encouraged to not have a day off, but a day on.  It’s hard to feel hopeless when you have the right perspective and are helping other people.  That brings me to my third favorite quote of Dr. King, Service.

“Everybody can be great… because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

One of the most important services we can offer is to teach, protect, and guide the innocent children and youth.  In the early 90’s, I volunteered with the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission working to work on youth leadership programs.  One year we took the youth to Little Rock, Arkansas to visit Central High School and to teach them, among other things, about the courage of the Little Rock Nine.

What Has History Taught Us?

Coretta Scott King, wife of Dr. King, was Chairperson of the Commission at that time and the thing I remember most about her is that she loved children and dedicated a great deal of her time to encouraging them.  Their son, Dexter Scott King, when reflecting on the importance of history and youth wrote:

“To most young people history is just that, with no relevance to the present or future.  With our new technologies and new-found freedoms, what can we learn from a civil rights movement that took place before this generation was born?  If you cannot understand and respect the lessons which our ancestors learned through hard struggle, then we are condemned to relive those same struggles over and over again.  If history has taught us nothing else, it has taught us that.”

February will be here before you know it and with it come Black History Month.  Please take advantage of the opportunities and programs organized to help us remember the lessons and leaders of the past who have contributed so much to our current freedoms, successes, and opportunities.  Click to read my 5th favorite Dr. Martin Luther King quote on Unity http://wp.me/ppImQ-eJ

Barbara Talley is a keynote speaker, author, poet, and trainer who can be reached at www.thepoetspeaks.com.  Still looking for a keynote speaker for Black History Month, Women’s History Month, or Administrative Professional Day, phone Barbara at 301-428-4831.