Haiti and Dr. King

Yesterday the horrific images from earthquake-stricken Haiti and from the spring of 1968 in Memphis came together in the media and in my own mind. I was a 23 year old seminary student living in Memphis at the time of Dr. King's assassination, so the events associated with that tragedy, and the cultural whirlwind of that year and decade in general, are very real in my memory. The gripping videos of rescue operations in Haiti, along with the heart-wrenching interviews of healthcare workers, the sickening sounds of heavy machines loading corpses away, the voice of a child saying "Thank you" to an aid worker who provided water and food, the comments of an elementary school girl who made cookies and hot chocolate for donations to Haiti relief --- it's all staggering.

Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for freedom, justice, non-violence and peace. Advances have been made in our society as a result of the movement for which he was the primary spokesman. No thoughtful person can deny that there is still a long way to go before the dream he envisioned is a genuine reality for all. And a nation like Haiti, with its chronic desperate poverty immeasurably exacerbated by the deaths of tens of thousands, the displacement of millions, is a place where such a dream now seems unapproachable.

But the thing about God-inspired dreams is, they have a way of overcoming, even in the darkest hour. With the unimaginable challenges facing the people of Haiti, I'm praying that along with the eventual rebuilding of societal infrastructure and the resumption of day-to-day life, the dream of justice, peace, wholeness, and opportunity will rise from the rubble as well.