Please, Make it Stop
Martin Luther King Jr. Day Rekindles the Flame of Hope
Now is the time to remember the words of the great orator.
When I graduated from high school in the late 1980s, the world seemed to be filled with hope. I had not known war, my family was prosperous even in the era of Reaganomics and it felt like the world was shifting toward permanent change for good. Racism seemed to have been eradicated by the panacea of education and time. I know now that I was young and naïve, convinced that I could make the world a better place simply by dreaming it. Then came the Persian Gulf War, Rodney King and Sept. 11. I am the first to admit that these events--as well as many others--have left me cynical and jaded. That flame of hope kindled long ago and that had once burned so brightly is now only faintly flickering. But there are moments when I can still feel it, and…
