Three Essentials we learn from Martin Luther King Jr.

“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.”–"Strength to Love"     Martin Luther King, Jr.

It’s Marin Luther King Jr.’s birthday again, it’s time to keep repeating his dream, and also our dream relentlessly,  King's main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, which has enabled more Americans to reach their potential.

King spent his last birthday to fight for economic inequility, which is also the significant issue we are fighting today. In the last four decades, for many noble fighting Mr. King advocated,  there’s cheers and tears; there’s progress and backward, it’s the time to celebrate the greatest speech of the 20th century, Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech again,  dig it deeper and carry it on.

 There are three essentials we can learn from Dr. King:

1.     Character

“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. “  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  What is character? Character means many things, which is inbuilt, the innate self, the individual's intelligence, sharpness and dynamism, it’s the combination of values, attitude and the integrity. The character is human's blueprint, also like the seed, with the uniqueness & color theme.

Can we shape the character? Well, our life environment may also influence or strengthen the character further, Mr. Kings’ personal experiences in some injustices at his early age may shape his character more radically, the great characters like the fire seeds, are ignited with passion, the universal human love and ultimate fairness & faithfulness.

2.   Creativity

“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”  Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mr. King’s Creativity: “No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” , when Mr. King uttered the poetic verses, it’s not just rhetoric, it’s the spirit; it’s not just a speech, it’s the creativity, it’s not just the opinion, it’s the message about the harmony of the nature with the world.

Can creativity be taught? The creative person’s spirit and soul dance with passion and imagination, creativity is infused with an inner cohesion, and comes from a vision of uniqueness, creativity needs a problem, and creative person needs a purpose;  yes, creativity could be nurtured at certain degree by analyzing the thinking processes such as observing, associating, questioning and experimenting, creativity needs encouragement as food, and creativity excellence need be cultivated , however, Creativity has many dimensions, creativity is wings of our mind, you can put a kid to the college, you can’t teach her or him how to think, creativity is a motivation, the component of character.

3.  Wisdom

 “Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major. Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter”     Martin Luther King, Jr.

     

  Dr. King dedicated his entire life to pursuit of happiness and the wisdom, it’s not his own happiness, it’s the maximized human happiness about the freedom, the equality and righteousness; it’s a wisdom to well blend his own self-reflection with biblical wisdom, it’s also the wisdom gained from his own life experience from world reality more than four decades ago, it’s the wisdom to shape the vision about our brighter future, it’s not the cleverness, it’s the sacrifice, it’s high as mountain and deep as valley, broad as sea and focus as sunshine.

Yes, we may repeat his speech for countless times, at the end of day, we need  to live at our own era, the more color-blinded age, the better age, the digital age, but we will not be satisfied until the world will be sparked with full spectrum of colors, the color of character, the color of creativity, the color of wisdom, what a great colorful world!

Posted in: Creativity,Food for Thought,Future of Leadership