He had a dream, in the years since, what have we done to it?

where are we on the road to reality?

    Martin Luther King in a well known speech said, "I have a dream..............." His dream was for equality. His dream was for peace. What are we as a nation, no matter our color, no matter our race, no matter our education or social status, what are we doing to this dream?                           This morning I wrote a piece on some of what I am seeing and hearing about going on around us. I've been reading commentaries and the comments afterward on what people think of the trail and verdict. While I know, there is no need to clarify but I will. I am talking about the George Zimmerman/ Trayvon Martin trial in Florida.

 My thoughts on the trial itself are not what I intent to focus on with this writing. I will say that the killing of Trayvon should not have happened just like any other non-war related killing- and many of even those-- should not have happened. It would not have happened if George Zimmerman had remained in his vehicle. But he didn't. We will never know all of what happened that night. I fear that the facts have been so twisted out of shape that the whole truth is now unknown to anyone here on this earth. We can only listen to the newscasters, and the conversations around us along with reading the multitude of writings in the newspapers, magazines and in the many comments and online blogs. The one thing that I am seeing more than truth, is anger. Truth-all- truth, has been trampled. We have been fed in bits and pieces what they wanted us to have, and many have readily swallowed it creating the problems that are showing up all across this country.

     Martin Luther King had a dream. Yes, I realize that in his speech he was talking to a black audience. Can we not- all of us- take this speech and the words he spoke to heart? In this same speech he spoke of love, of brotherhood, of white and black children walking hand in hand. Many of our children have that. It is only after listening to the voices around them that they lose the innocence and trust and being to feel, speak and act in a racially biased way. Children do not know hate, mistrust, prejudice.. it is something they have to be taught. Our children are being taught by our very actions and words. You can not love and hate at the same time. Our children, the young people of this time, they are the future. To teach them as we have been, is not only wrong, it is unfair to them. I have gotten to the point where I often wonder, who it is among us that is the most mature when it comes to race relations. I believe that we could take lessons from our own children.

 Time has a way of healing wounds, of teaching lessons, to those who will accept. Time has a way of allowing for change, if we make the move and don't allow the chance to get away. To get change, we have to create it. We have to take the time to hunt it down and own it. To do that, we have to stop and look around. Does blocking highways, looting stores, doing physical harm to innocents really work toward the goal of equality and a better society all around? Or is it merely a sign of anarchy?  Many of the posts that I have read the writers have great skill in their writing, in their thought process and getting that thought down so that it is easily understood. Our greatest of oratory commentators seem bent on creating more anger and division. Instead of using their talent to bring about peace and the desire to work toward the realization of a dream. They are verbally and through their prose being as destructive as those gathering in mass and marching down the streets of cities and towns looking for something or someone to take their anger out on. Don't take it out on the innocent. Use the emotions that are running high to create something good. Something worth while, something that will in the future help to prevent the death of another young man, no matter the color of their skin.

Martin Luther King had a dream, a good dream, a very worth while dream. But, then in the sixties and now in 2013 it is still a dream. For every step we take forward, there are many who seem hell bent and determined to shove us back. At times, we do it to ourselves. How can we work toward bringing a dream into a reality? Not by marching and shouting threats. Not by going onto the many social medias and trashing each other. We make changes by  hard work and determination. We take the time to educate ourselves, support the schools and help the educators by understanding the importance and working to make it better. Teaching our kids that there are certain ways of behaving in public. There are ways of behaving in school. There is something called respect and how to show it. Respect is something that should be shown to others right up until they show they are not worthy of it. Respect for ourselves and treating ourselves with respect. Realizing that it is better to work hard for what we have, to work toward the goal that we hold treasured in our heart and not sit and expect it to be handed it us. Jobs are difficult if not impossible to find, the determined who cannot find employment, create their own. You don't have to rob your neighbor or the person on the street to survive. You don't have to sell drugs or join gangs.  There are people all around who have taken the step to create their own jobs, landscaping, house cleaning, setting up sites online to sell crafts or services they offer. This land was built on the backs of hardworking people who believed in this country. People who knew and understood that to survive and grow they had to work together. If we are to get past this, if we are to honor a teenager lost to violence- no matter who was at fault. If we are to honor the many hundreds who are killed daily across this country then we have to learn to stand strong. Not blindly follow the misinformation that is being fed to us. Not accepting the bits and pieces as whole.

Martin Luther King had a dream. It is still possible, it is not unreachable. But we have to get past the anger and lack of trust. We have to stop with the name calling and hatred. We have to stand up tall and strong and declare, Do not know me by what you see on the outside, take time to know me by who I am inside, by my heart, my faith, my love, my inner most person. Know me by the things I do to improve the circumstances around us. We have to be more, be better than the thugs and gangster wannabe's, we have to take pride in ourselves and humanity. We have to grow up and understand that life is not fair, it is not easy, it is not always going to go the way we want it to go. We have to grow up, now if we ever want to see a dream, become a reality.