At this point in history, Martin Luther King, Jr. has been a household name for well over 60 years. He was instrumental in promoting forgiveness, reconciliation, and unity in the face of deep-seated racial injustice and discrimination. Throughout the Civil Rights Movement, King emphasized the principles of nonviolence and forgiveness. He believed in the transformative power of forgiveness to break the cycle of hatred and violence and to create a more just and equal society. While watching a short documentary about him with my students as a prompt for a writing assignment, a specific part metaphorically stabbed me in the chest, much like the letter opener that almost killed King in 1958. During the video, Shirley Cherry, Dexter Parsonage Museum tour director, summed up two things King said you needed to be free. According to Mrs. Cherry’s interpretation of what Dr. King says, you must forgive everybody for everything that they have ever done to you and also lose your fear of death. I don’t fear death because, as a Christian, I believe that I will go to Heaven. I hate leaving my family, but I have faith in my destination. The other part of what King states that we need to be free is where I falter.

King’s teachings on forgiveness were deeply rooted in the Christian faith. He understood that forgiveness was not a sign of weakness but the opposite. King’s message of forgiveness and reconciliation resonated with people to overcome their differences and work towards a more inclusive and compassionate society, but I have always found forgiveness difficult. By advocating for forgiveness and understanding, King challenged the deeply ingrained prejudices and divisions that plagued our nation, even when those prejudices blasted through his window.

On the night of September 30, 1956, King was at a church when a bomb went off at his house while his wife and children were inside. He ran down the road to ensure their safety. Inside the home, his family was thankfully okay, but waiting for him outside was a group of almost 500 angry black men and women. They stood with guns, knives, pitchforks, and other weapons. Instead of inciting a riot, as most of us would want, he calmly held his hands up and reminded them of the proverb from the book of Matthew, “Live by the sword, die by the sword.” (Or the ‘long’ version: “Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”)

I stand here with resentment over things done to me years ago, but King can look at a crowd of his peers and offer forgiveness to those who do not deserve it. Through his words and actions, Martin Luther King Jr. showed the world (and reminded me in the last few days) that forgiveness is a moral imperative and a powerful force for social and transformative change. I hope to live my life and emulate a portion of the forgiveness that Martin Luther King distributed to those around him. We might never forget certain events, but we must forgive for our edification and earn the peace that we all deserve.

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Images:

Martin Luther King Jr National Park Service Image by National Park Service – Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110702085

President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Martin Luther King Jr.image by Yoichi Okamoto – Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. Image Serial Number: A1030-17a. http://www.lbjlibrary.net/collections/photo-archive/photolab-detail.html?id=222, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1303469

Martin Luther King, 1964 image by Nobel Foundation – Description page (direct link), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9719576

Martin Luther King image by NARA – National Archives, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60402418