MLK Interlude

I say to you this morning

That if you have never found something so dear

And so precious to you that you will die for it

Then you aren't fit to live

You may be thirty-eight years old as I happen to be

And one day, some great opportunity stands before you

And calls upon you to stand up for some great principle

Some great issue, some great cause

And you refuse to do it because you are afraid

You refuse to do it because you want to live longer

You're afraid that you will lose your job

Or you're afraid that you will be criticized

Or that you will lose your popularity

Or you're afraid that somebody will stab you or shoot at you or bomb your house

And so you refuse to take the stand

Well, you may go on and live until you are ninety

But you're just as dead at thirty-eight as you would be at ninety

And the sensation of breathing in your life is

But the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit

You died when you refused to stand up for right

You died when you refused to stand up for truth

You died when you refused to stand up for justice