Monday's Memorandum: It's MLK Day (Assassinated nearly 50 years ago)

In just a few months time, it will be April. Fifty years ago (1968) on the fourth day of that month, the civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Junior was assassinated. He was thirty-nine years old.

Today, Monday, January 15th, would've been King's eighty-eighth birthday. His memory is being revered, as it always is on the third Monday in January, when folks celebrate his life on the holiday known as Martin Luther King Junior Day.

According to Wikipedia, "Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.) is an American federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around King's birthday, January 15. The holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act."

I'm honoring Martin Luther King Junior Day by posting a You Tube video atop today's blog entry, it is the same You Tube clip that I included within an entry here on Blogger for King's holiday in 2017.

I find the song featured in the video haunting and worthy of posting again. Meanwhile, The Seattle Times, created a web-page tribute to him, and in it they state the following:

"Martin Luther King Jr. lived an extraordinary life. At 33, he was pressing the case of civil rights with President John Kennedy. At 34, he galvanized the nation with his 'I Have a Dream' speech. At 35, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. At 39, he was assassinated, but he left a legacy of hope and inspiration that continues today."

WW* Remembering Martin Luther King (*Wednesday's Wisdom)

Martin Luther King Junior was assassinated 50 years ago on this day of April 4th. The Mutts "mini" poster which is featured atop this entry is in honor of Dr. King's passing.

Martin Luther King Day 2019

IMAGE CREDIT

As yet another Martin Luther King Day comes to a close, I'm sure that I'm not alone in hoping that we will, in our life times be walking the Earth as brothers and sisters.

"I have a dream..." (So do I, Dr. King)

Today is not part of my blog posting schedule for this week, but in honor of the 1963 anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream speech," I am making an exception.

In his speech, Dr. King states: "....I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character..."

Like Dr. King, I have a dream too. I have a dream that one day I will not be judged by the fact that my eye turns inward.

I have a dream that one day I will not be judged by the fact that I have thousands of bumps and lumps all over my body (as a result of having Neurofibromatosis).

I have a dream that my insights into the power of verbal bullying will be healing and helpful to others who have been marginalized for whatever reason.

I spoke about this in my introductory video for" Imperfect Strangers" posted on You Tube as well as on Vimeo.

I plan to create a follow up video in the coming days. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, if you'd like to read the text of MLK's speech in its entirety, dear reader, please click here. Rest in Peace, Dr. King.

ADDENDUM

Here are the links to the follow up video mentioned in this entry which is posted on You Tube and Vimeo (respectively).

Friday Follow Up: Miracle on the Hudson

CANADIAN GEESE ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

The photo atop this entry features a pair of Canadian geese walking on a sheet of ice that is covering a lake in Central Park. I was surprised to see this happening as this bird type can often be seen trying to keep their feet warm. A way that they do this is to stand on one foot and tuck the other one under their breast, as evidenced in the following pictures.

Doing this action to keep warm was impossible for Kaitlin, a goose who lost most of her right leg to fishing line while swimming in Central Park's Boat Lake. Apparently this accident occurred a years ago and her mate, a faithful gander, remains at her side as he attempts to protecting her from harm, as seen in the next photograph.

If you'd like to learn more about this avian couple's compelling story, it can be found in my article, The One Legged Goose and Her Faithful Partner, which was published by ilovetheupperwestide.com

Not only are Canadian geese loyal partners, they both take part in the parenting of their goslings as you migh surmise upon seeing the following image.

This image along with others of a Canadian geese family is featured in volume two of my book series, Words In Our Beak (AKA WIOB).

MY BOOK SERIES

In any event, this bird type is on my mind today because this last Friday, January 15th,  (which also happpened to be Martin Luther King's birthday), marked the eleventh anniversary of The Miracle on the Hudson, when Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III had to make the difficult decision to land US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River off Manhattan after both engines were disabled by a bird strike by Canadian geese. All 155 people aboard survived. 

As stated in many articles about the event, including one published in The Guardian, the outcome wasn't so good for the geese.

In Honor of Martin Luther King Junior Day

When life "hits you in the head" with a brick:"Stay hungry, Stay foolish . . . "

The video posted above is something most Apple product lovers have seen. However, in my blog entry of January 18th 2011, I promised to put up a post outside of my regularly scheduled postings, and dedicate it to Steve Jobs.

In addition to a theatrical play, LBJ is featured in "Imperfect Strangers..."

IMAGE CREDIT

Last night a friend took me to see The Great Society, the Broadway play now being featured at The Vivian Beaumont Theatre in NYC. Playbill describes it  as a production "Capturing Johnson’s passionate and aggressive attempts to build a great society for all, The Great Society follows his epic triumph in a landslide election to the agonizing decision not to run for re-election just three years later. It was an era that would define history forever: the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the destruction of Vietnam, and the creation of some of the greatest social programs America has ever known—and one man was at the center of it all: LBJ."

I also reference President Lyndon B. Johnson in my book, Imperfect Strangers, a story which begins from a child's perspective.