It is appropriate that the anniversary of the infamous Roe v Wade decision is observed at the same time as the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.  We gain perspective and hope from knowing that civil rights activists eventually won their struggle to end slavery and Jim Crow, even though it took nearly 200 years.

They overcome insurmountable obstacles.  For them, like us in the pro-life movement, the discouragement must have been overwhelming at times.  But they fought on, never giving up on their dreams of equality.

If anything, Dr. King’s legacy should inspire us to dream big dreams and pursue bold visions.

I was reminded of this as I read Sen. Bob Corker’s remarks at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Sports Legacy Symposium at the FedEx Forum in Memphis. The symposium pays tribute to athletes who have made significant contributions to civil and human rights.

In his remarks, excerpted below, Sen. Corker spoke briefly about King’s bold vision and how it should inspire us to pursue bold visions of our own:

One of the people who has had a great impact on my life is a man named Jim Rouse.  His work to give low-income citizens the opportunity for decent and affordable housing has improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across our country. I met Jim in the 1980s, and he encouraged me to embrace a bold vision. He said, “Bob, if you have a bold vision, even if you only accomplish 80 percent of it, you’ve still accomplished far more than if your goals were small. A bold vision builds momentum and energy.”

Martin Luther King had a tremendous vision of what our country could be. He also had the courage to stand up and pursue it. He had a bold vision – a dream he called it – of human equality. He shared his dream with the rest of us and made sacrifices so that his children and grandchildren would live in a better country than the one he inherited.

Tragically, his life was cut short. But because he had a bold vision and energy behind it, others picked up his cause and today we are a far better nation as a result.

To truly honor his legacy we must dedicate ourselves to our own bold visions, to serving one another, to improving our communities, and to leaving behind a better country for future generations.

Tags: Martin Luther King, Roe v Wade

This entry was posted on Friday, January 21st, 2011 at 8:16 am and is filed under Pro Life Activism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.