Happy Birthday Dr. King

When I was in college working on my undergraduate degree I wrote a critical analysis of Dr Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech for a Psychology of Speech class. (I also did a critical analysis of Aristotle’s Rules of Rhetoric… Best. Paper. Ever.)

You can see the text of Dr. King’s glorious speech here, posted on my other blog.

Sure, I looked at other speeches; Winston Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’, John F. Kennedy’s “Inaugural Address”, Ronald Reagan's "Shuttle Challenger Disaster Address", Abraham Lincoln’s "Gettysburg Address", and so on and so forth.

Why did I pick this speech? Because I believe that it is, arguably, the best speech ever given… at the least, one of the best speeches ever given. Pathos, logos and ethos are all well established and used in his speech. But… I’m veering off the subject of this post.

You might me asking, Kemp… why are you bringing something up that happened almost 11 years ago? Yesterday, January 15th was Dr. King’s birthday. Happy Birthday Dr. King.

Today our country honors that man.

On a vacation to Memphis, TN one year, my wife and I went to the National Civil Rights Museum. We walked through the museum and saw the infamous hotel and hotel room that the good Reverend was staying in. We walked away from there with more knowledge than when we walked in and with amazement.

We also walked away very, very humbled.

While I know that many changes and many strides have been made since Dr. King made that stirring speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, I am also mindful of the fact that we as a nation, and as a society, have much further to go.

I ask all of you reading this blog to take a moment today and think about the man and his dreams.

We salute you Dr. King. Your memory, your life, and your dream will never die.