What the nation describes as progress perturbs me. I do not speak often on the ethnic issues of our day, but today is a very important day. It is a day on which we celebrate the life and work of a man who was dedicated to justice for all men and who himself held the conviction that all men were created with equal worth by God. I am glad to celebrate the life of such a man of God.

Here is what perturbs me. It is that race, even after equal justice was obtained, continues to be a central issue within the United States. Having the same convictions regarding the equal worth of all men, I simply cannot see why there is such race division in this country still today. It seems to be those who a fighting for “racial equality” who are causing the most division. Helping nothing. Today, I simply want to share a few quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

“Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.”

“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”

MLK Jr. spoke as if he had a greater interest in serving men that being served, and argued that every man should live with such a heart, lest he be guilty of selfishness. He agreed that there must be the order of law and that the system of law must promote equal justice for all men. When the law accomplishes this, according to King, then social progress is made possible. He wanted all people to be critical thinkers and to seriously consider their action before acting. Ignorance, according to King, was not an excuse and no action should be taken in ignorance. Love is better than hate. Justice, true justice for all men, is desired. Forgiveness is absolutely necessary.

We are at a place in our history where it seems as though the minority “races” are considered over and above those termed as the majority on many occasions and Affirmative Action programs are evidence of this.[1] Even according to MLK Jr. there should be no ‘race’ question at all. If we are truly equal in worth, then let us all act as though we were equal in worth.

I believe that diversity was created by God and that it honors God. I believe that all men and women are equal in worth. Because we are equal in worth, we should be equal in worth under the law. If government benefits are handed out, they should be handed out equally across ethnic boundaries. Businesses should be free to hire men and women according to their qualification, regardless of ‘race’. Schools should provide scholarships to students who have worked for those scholarships no matter their ethnicity.

I believe that there is a greater problem than the ethnic division in this country. It is a problem of selfishness. It seems that everyone is fighting to receive more handouts or to improve their own situation in life rather than living to serve others. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in equal justice for all men. So do I. He believed in hard work and in critical thinking. So do I. He believed in reason and he lived to honor God by reasoning with men. So do I. King championed altruism and encouraged all men to do the same. So do I. Martin Luther King Jr. was a hero who championed the idea that all men were created with and maintained equal worth. These are ideas we should all champion. The sad reality is: people today, regardless of ethnicity, are simply selfish. America no longer honors God and her people no longer honor one another. We are better than this.

[1] <http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/affirmative-action-overview.aspx#2&gt;