Through My Eyes

Two years before I was born, Martin Luther King Junior delivered a life changing message to the world "What Is Your Life's Blueprint ", at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia. Every time I hear his call I get seriously emotional and even though it was said 52 years ago, it applies so effortlessly into every young person's life and even to 'ballies' like me.

In his speech, Martin Luther King lays out three important steps to follow in order for the young people to reach their full potential, no matter their status in life, and calls on them to actively commit to the struggle for freedom and justice. King's words are inspirational for people of all ages, of any era, especially now during our troubled times in the world.

He said; "Number one in your life's blueprint should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your own worth, and your own 'somebodiness'. Don't allow anybody to make you feel that you are nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth. And always feel that your life has ultimate significance."

Whether you are young or old, rich or poor, educated or not, you must know your worth and not allow anyone to bring you down. We must never be ashamed of ourselves, not be ashamed of who we are. Our lives matter! Each one of us has value. We must all know our worth and have dignity in everything we do.

King continues; "Secondly, in your life's blueprint, you must have as a basic principle the determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavour...If it falls to your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. And sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of Heaven and Earth will have to pause and say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.'"

Whatever your profession may be, strive to be the absolute best at it. Through personal dedication, each one is us is capable to attains the invaluable reward of self-realization. King continues his point about doing one's best within one's limits when he says: "If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill, be a scrub in the valley. But be the best little scrub on the side of the hill. Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail.If you can't be the sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or you fail. Be the best of whatever you are."

"And finally, and finally, in your life's blueprint, must be a commitment to the eternal principles of beauty, love, and justice...However young you are, you have a responsibility to seek to make your nation a better nation in which to live. You have a responsibility to seek to make life better for everybody. And so you must be involved in the struggle of freedom and justice."

Oh how on the event of my birthday, I wish a wise man, like King, would appear out of nowhere and motivate our nation to be the best we could possibly be because as you and I know, nothing is impossible, and so everything is possible with a little push and a big shove here's to the future of our country. Here's to being the best we possibly can be.