Sometimes I'm an activist because I must be

I feel gratitude for everyone who has taken the plunge as we navigate the uncertain waters of life experience through my new column, Stories and Journeys. This column is an article I wrote two years ago. I still stand by what I wrote.It includes me remembering an experience that shaped my identity as a writer reflecting on "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.

Reflections on MLK Day 2020
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
~ “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

In 1962-63, I was a freshman at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. Somehow it had been determined that a major in philosophy and religion best suited me as opposed to my other considerations which were English (I did take English Composition) – or history and political Science. (I was overwhelmed when I saw the reading list.)
I ended with an equivalent minor in history and political science with a stronger interest in political science. Dr. Koch, my freshman composition professor, said my being a good writer was not in question, but he had noticed that I was a reflective writer. He had presented one of my essays to Dr. Jack Padget, head of the philosophy and religion department, with the observation that I would do well as a philosophy and religion major. The specific essay that got Dr. Koch’s attention was the one I wrote on “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.
Dr. Padget told me he agreed with Dr. Koch that I would do well as a philosophy and religion major. It made sense to me at the time.

Student Christian Movement
Somehow word got out that I had declared myself to be a philosophy and religion major. I was approached by Jane, a freshman student, who explained to me that she was one of a small group of students meeting weekly as the Methodist Student Movement. They had decided it was time to go ecumenical and become the Student Christian Movement since there was nothing for non-Methodist students as a place to gather. If I was willing to do it, they wanted me to be the first president of the Student Christian Movement. I consented.

Crossing paths with new college chaplain
As president of the Student Christian Movement it was inevitable that Chaplain James Allen and I would cross paths.
Chaplain Allen introduced our small leadership group to "The Miracle of Dialogue" by Reuel Howe for reading and studying. Chaplain Allen and I made a decision to explore taking the Student Christian Movement into direct engagement with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. As we became socially engaged and active, weekly participation in the Student Christian Movement more than doubled.
Personally, I remember many hours at the home of Jim and his wife Jan at the time, just hanging out or attending meetings. It was Jim who introduced me to the work of a new musician by the name of Bob Dylan, specifically a song called “The Times They Are a-Changing.”
I am not an activist by nature. I tend to be introspective, a meditator, a writer of reflective words, but there are times when I am activist because I can't help myself. The need becomes too obvious and I am convinced I can contribute. The common good requires that we do what we are able to do.

Message of MLK
Now it is 2020. I find that the memory and message of Dr. Martin Luther King today is too whitewashed and watered down. The words of Dr. King that continue to stay with me are his observation that it doesn't do any good to be able to have a seat in the restaurant if you can't afford the meal. We focus too exclusively on his civil rights legacy and forget his leadership in the Poor People's Campaign in the last years of his life.
Dr. King was assassinated but the dream lives on in spite of the three evils he identified: racism, poverty, and war.
“What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn’t have enough money to buy a hamburger?” From a speech given by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Sanitation Workers Striking in Memphis, March 18, 1968.
What are your MLK Day reflections/remembrances? Share them with yourself, others or me by writing or emailing news@longfellownokomismessenger.com.
In gratitude. Stay tuned.