Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 16, 2006

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

On this "Human Rights Day" (in Utah) I wanted to share a little bit more than the typical "I Have a Dream" speech. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote many other speeches, and this one is probably my favorite... but I am biased, because of the field that I work in.

"I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin [applause], we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. [applause]

A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth."- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Beyond Vietnam"
Address delivered to the Clergy and Laymen
Concerned about Vietnam, at Riverside Church
4 April 1967
New York City


Isn't that just the coolest speech! I wish that I could have heard it in person. It is still so pertinent today... especially today when the gap between the haves and the have nots is getting wider.

If you have a boss, or a network of bosses that don't believe in Human Rights today, you can go somewhere Hot and Spicy for lunch to celebrate Hot and Spicy Food International Day.

If you do have the day off, and don't feel like being political and stuff, perhaps you should just celebrate National Nothing Day. Celebrate NOTHING! Its a nihilist's favorite holiday. An ecthroi day. So, if you believe in nothing, or like to do nothing, then do nothing in celebration of nothing day. Or, I guess don't celebrate because that is how a nihilist would celebrate... I'm getting really confused here... I could be crossing over into deconstructionism.

Anyway, as I commented yesterday, it is Appreciate a Dragon Day. If you thought that the Dragon Snot recipe was just a fancy name for Mormon Wedding Punch, try Pickled Dragon Eggs, or Dragon's Breath Chili, or Dragon Pork Loin Dinner, or Butterbeer, ...wait, maybe that's not dragonish, that's plainly HP. Well, it just looks yummy.

I am going to buy a counter chair today... or maybe two so my Christmas Frog can sit next to me!