“This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims’ pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring … And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., August 28, 1963).
Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely despise the politicization of truth. (Yes, I just used a six-syllable word).
What I mean by “politicization of truth” is the idea that we decide whether or not a statement is true based, not on its content, but by who said it. If it is a person with whom I tend to agree (whose “politics” I admire), I am more likely to believe that what that person says is true.
Conversely, if it is a person with whom I tend to disagree and who’s politics I can’t stand, then that person cannot possibly be telling the truth.
Here’s a variation on that: if it’s a person I don’t admire and he has told a lie in the past, then whatever he says must be called into question because he’s a liar.
But if it’s a person I do admire, and that person has told a lie in the past, then why are we so fixated on the past? People can change.
I’m about to state a profound truth here: Truth is true.
No matter who said it.
Even if the speaker has ulterior motives.
Truth is true.
As I write this post, it is MLK Day. I happen to be admirer of Dr. King, what he stood for, and what he attempted to achieve.
I was not quite two years old when he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, so my exposure has been through history. I have visited Civil Rights museums around the country and always come away with a sense of profound grief at the way my fellow human beings have been treated and profound gratitude for those who sacrificed so much to try to bring about change.
Here’s what I’m thinking about today: we have come so far, but we have so far to go. If we’ve been paying attention in recent years, we can only conclude that we have nothing for which to congratulate ourselves.
The chasms seem to be deepening.
Could it be that we have fortified the politicization of truth? Could it be that we have decided that making our point is more important than listening? Could it be that we have settled for an inferior dream?
Could it be that we have forgotten that Amazing is not found in getting our way, but in living into the purpose for which God created us?
That’s my dream.
Be amazing today, my friend.
