Watson Wire

The Holiday, and Haiti

Monday, January 18, 2010 |

Even in normal times, I doubt many of us could comprehend what life is like in a place like Haiti.

With poverty so common and so crushing for so many millions of Haitians, it wasn’t just the Third World.  It was another world altogether.

Well, last week’s earthquake helped put that world into heart-breaking focus.  The death toll’s been measured in numbers usually reserved for sports stadiums, and the toll for millions of survivors is just as overwhelming.

The earthquake was an extraordinary event, and we Texans should respond in kind.  If you haven’t given already – and heck, even if you have – I hope you’ll consider donating here or here.

Thanks for all you do.

MLK Day

It’s so appropriate that we’re talking (and writing) on Martin Luther King Jr. Day about generosity and concern for our common humanity.

Here’s one of my favorite writings by Dr. King: a passage from his famous “Drum Major Instinct" sermon in February of 1968. I remember first reading this sermon as a college freshman.  I can recall right where I was sitting and how emotional I felt.

It’s still a fascinating read – particularly in an election year, when so many folks may be revealing their drum major instinct.  But also because of what it says about service and how it can make us great.  Here’s an excerpt:

"And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve.  You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant."

"Every now and then I guess we all think realistically about that day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common denominator—that something that we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death and I think about my own funeral. And I don't think of it in a morbid sense. And every now and then I ask myself, "What is it that I would want said?" And I leave the word to you this morning.

If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long.  And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school.

I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others.

I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody. 

I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question.

I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry.

And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked.

I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison.

I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say."

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day, indeed.