Wednesday, June 25, 2008

MLK on being tied together (and that was in the 60s)




We are tied together in life and in the world. And you may think you got all you got by yourself. But you know, before you got out here to church this morning, you were dependent on more than half the world. You get up in the morning and go to the bathroom, and you reach over for a bar of soap, and that’s handed to you by a Frenchman. You reach over for a sponge, and that’s given by a turk. You reach over for a towel, and that comes to your hand from the hands of a Pacific Islander. And then you go to the kitchen to get your breakfast. You reach on over to get a little coffee, and that’s poured in your cup by a South American. Or maybe you decide that you want a little tea this morning, only to discover that that’s poured in your cup by a Chinese. Or maybe you want a little cocoa, that’s poured in your cup by a West African. Then you want a little bread and you reach over to get it, and that’s give you by the hands of an English-speaking farmer, not to mention the baker. Before you get through eating breakfast in the morning, you're dependent on more than half the world. That's the way God structured this world. So let us be concerned about others because we are dependent on others.

From Martin Luther King Jr. "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life" April 1967.