“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
We live in trying times. We look for the silver lining, something or someone to believe in, but some people still play the lying game. The news is entertainment, but read in-between the lines. Things are not getting better, and false promises from rising politicians cannot soothe wounds still burned. We’re trying to survive. We’re trying, so how do we still dream?
We dream because they dream. They live the dream, actors and actresses honored at awards shows like The People’s Choice Awards and The Golden Globes. They all started somewhere, some facing hard times, and others rising from nothing. They still made it. They endured, they bled, and they believed. Now, they take flight, and we applaud, even if not all chosen nominees won. It didn’t matter because they were our light in these dark and trying times. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
But how do we live, if we grow so cold? We forget. We lock ourselves tight, sealed in our glass slipper of life. We don’t want to know that others suffer. We don’t want to see it or feel it. We just want to survive. We want to dream without choking on the noose of taxes and trials, worried about having no home or not being able to feed ourselves and those in our heart. We want freedom, but freedom now comes with a price. So, we can’t dream, watching this world slip from our hand. “Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
This war has not been lost. The world is ours to change, but we have to be the ones to change it. We cannot drive on cruise control or allow others to take the reigns. This life, this place defines who we are and who we have to be in these dark and trying times, and we cannot simply lie aside. Or we can’t complain as we slip over the edge because we didn’t try. We just tried to survive, but if we hold tight to the dream of a better world, a rising star, then we can do anything we set our hearts and mind to. And then no longer would we need to survive but flourish and dream in light and better times.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.