<em>"Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated." - Martin Luther King, Jr.</em>

<span class="removed_link" title="http://www.thekingcenter.org/KingHoliday/Default.aspx">Martin Luther King, Jr.</span> has always fascinated me. He was gone long before I was a twinkle in my mother's eye, but it's his message that endures, even now, 42 years later. I believe, like so many others, that he was a man with a heart for ALL people; with his <a id="aptureLink_gt4tdHfuUJ" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyes%20on%20the%20Prize">eyes on the prize</a>, Dr. King valiantly voiced some of the greatest speeches of all time (click the links to read the texts and view video):

<a id="aptureLink_yOxRy9JQRS" href="http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm">I Have a Dream</a> (text and video)

<span class="removed_link" title="http://www.thatsalabama.com/speeches/mlkjr/mountaintop/index.html">I've Been to the Mountaintop</span> (text)

<span class="removed_link" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI_tQ5DdFAk">I've Been to the Mountaintop</span> (video - part 1 of 2)

<a id="aptureLink_xGCCoLjD37" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySGDMdQaDA0">I've Been to the Mountaintop</a> (video - part 2 of 2)

<span class="removed_link" title="http://www.mlkonline.net/ourgod.html">Our God is Marching On!</span> (text)

<a id="aptureLink_m8vbGvIdBY" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAYITODNvlM">Our God is Marching On!</a> (some video)

Friends, I leave you today with this [from the Martin Luther King, Jr. speech "Our God is Marching On"]:
<blockquote>I know you are asking today, "How long will it take?" (Speak, sir) Somebody’s asking, "How long will prejudice blind the visions of men, darken their understanding, and drive bright-eyed wisdom from her sacred throne?" Somebody’s asking, "When will wounded justice, lying prostrate on the streets of Selma and Birmingham and communities all over the South, be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men?" Somebody’s asking, "When will the radiant star of hope be plunged against the nocturnal bosom of this lonely night, (Speak, speak, speak) plucked from weary souls with chains of fear and the manacles of death? How long will justice be crucified, (Speak) and truth bear it?" (Yes, sir)

I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, (Yes, sir) however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, (No sir) because "truth crushed to earth will rise again." (Yes, sir)

How long? Not long, (Yes, sir) because "no lie can live forever." (Yes, sir)

How long? Not long, (All right. How long) because "you shall reap what you sow." (Yes, sir)

How long? (How long?) Not long: (Not long)

Truth forever on the scaffold, (Speak)

Wrong forever on the throne, (Yes, sir)

Yet that scaffold sways the future, (Yes, sir)

And, behind the dim unknown,

Standeth God within the shadow,

Keeping watch above his own.

How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. (Yes, sir)

How long? Not long, (Not long) because:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; (Yes, sir)

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; (Yes)

He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword; (Yes, sir)

His truth is marching on. (Yes, sir)

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; (Speak, sir)

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat. (That’s right)

O, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant my feet!

Our God is marching on. (Yeah)

Glory, hallelujah! (Yes, sir) Glory, hallelujah! (All right)

Glory, hallelujah! Glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on. [Applause]</blockquote>