by Renae Richardson

Created on: September 19, 2009   Last Updated: September 20, 2009

"The time is always right to do what is right." (Martin Luther King)

How do we incorporate the philosophies of Dr. King into our lives?

We do what's right.

Martin Luther King was not born a great philosopher or a great civil rights leader. Martin Luther King became these things. Martin's drive to do what was right, to show compassion, and to love others made him tower above a million just men. His sole motivation was love. Dr. King performed his duties with passion; underscoring every action with compassion, love, and fervor. He refused to let hatred, apathy, fear, and prosecution bow his back. He taught others to do the same.

He once told a crowd of people anxious for change and fulfillment of freedom promised;

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well." (Martin Luther King)

As a people with a desire to be great and leave our mark on the world we must understand that Greatness will never be found in position or occupation in hobby or causes undertaken. It is our motivations that define our greatness.

The greatest obstacle that stands between's man's desire and his action is himself. We must first overcome ourselves, our self-interest and our proudful natures. As Dr. King once said,

.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. (Martin Luther King)

Thusly, incorporation begins with action. Improvement is a process. Greatness happens along the way.

In case you missed the message along the way I will answer the question once again with the words of Dr. King.

How can we incorporate King's Philosophy in our lives?

Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, Go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghetto of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can be changed. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords or our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle

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