Are you someone who wants to learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other influential people? Do you like to be inspired and inspire others to do great things and help make the world a better place to live? This article discusses King's life. You will learn how he inspired change and how you too can inspire change.

On January 19, 2009, I attended an event celebrating King. The event included a video on Bloody Sunday, a video on the march in Selma, Alabama and a play that featured an actor portraying King and an actress portraying Coretta Scott King. This event taught me a lot and I am about to share that with you.

How did King go from being an ordinary preacher to an international figure of extraordinary prominence? It started with King meeting Coretta Scott. While she sang opera one day, he walked up to her and let her know he loved opera. Subsequently, she asked him to name an opera song and he named an opera song they both loved. Coretta agreed to attend an upcoming opera event with him on a date.

The following spring, King proposed to Scott and she accepted while agreeing to support his role as a preacher. After Rosa Parks was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, King received a telephone call asking him to lead a bus boycott that would be held by black riders and leaders in Montgomery, Alabama. Once Coretta gave her permission, King became the boycott leader and moved up to a higher stage in life.

Parks would not give up her seat because she was tired of giving in and being pushed around. During the boycott, blacks walked and took cabs, determined to maintain their dignity. King inspired blacks to fight the bus segregation law. King and his followers eventually pressured officials enough to strike the bus segregation law down. Thanks to them, blacks can now ride anywhere they want on a bus.

Another thing King did to inspire change was to encourage his followers to finally take action to be granted certain rights such as the right to march and the right to congregate to talk about being allowed to vote. When King was told to wait for a new mayor to take office, he responded that every time they wait for someone who is supposed to fix things to come around, nothing changes. King's message here was you must act now to bring change. Every time you act now, you have won whether the outcome is good or bad.

Another thing you can do to inspire change is to keep your cool. Even though some of King's followers were beat upside their heads with batons by the police and suffered other violence, King preached that you ultimately win by turning the other cheek and only fighting injustice with peaceful methods.

"A man who has nothing to die for is not fit to live," King said. To have a worthy life, you must have courage and be inspired to risk your life to bring eternal change for yourself and others.

Change largely depends on you. It is true King effected great change and Barack Obama, the new president of The United States of America, wants to bring change; however, it is up to all of us to do the best we can to make life better for ourselves and society by working hard, staying in school, avoiding drugs and crime, etc.

Keep what you have learned in mind and apply it to stay inspired and inspire change for yourself and others!

Learn more about this author, Todd Hicks.
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