The Dream Lives On

I hear alot of people trying to disparage Sen. Obama by saying 'oh...he's just trying to sound like Martin Luther King'. If only Barack were so lucky. If only ALL OF US were so lucky to be as eloquent, as principled, as passionate and as sacrificing as Dr. King.

Forty years ago, a great man died for what was right. He was an idealist. He was an optimist. He was a dreamer. A man who loved this nation so much that he couldn't go on seeing it harm itself with a spirit of hypocrisy and hatred. He detested the backward, self-destructive nature of racism while loving the racist who spat in his face.

Forty years ago, the Dreamer died. But the dream lives on.

Martin lived for hope. He died for change. He opposed a corrupt and unjust war and paid the ultimate price for daring to speak up and change this land for the better.

Today, Barack Obama speaks of that same hope. Today, Senator Obama challenges us to remember that same spirit of change. He, too, opposed a rushed and questionable war. Today and tomorrow, he dares to speak of the power within all of us to stand up and change our nation for the better. To not stand idly by with our arms folded in cynicism. But to reach out to one another, embracing our fellow American in brotherhood and love and with a spirit of cooperative hope.

There is a reason that Barack Obama's message touches the heart and stirs the mind. It's because we have heard it before. We heard it in Selma and Montgomery from Dr. King. We heard it in Johannesburg from Nelson Mandela. We heard it in India from Mahatma Gandhi.

It's a universal song so sweet to the heart and so common to the human experience that it's lyrics will always energize people who hunger for freedom and equality. It will always quench the thirst of those seeking a better life free from hatred, bigotry and corruption.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the death of the Dreamer but his Dream is about to come true. A man shall rise among us in the greatest nation on Earth with a message of peace and love and equality and hope. His skin color won't matter. His lineage won't matter. Only his ideas will matter. Only his heart and his mind and his ability to unite us will matter.

"Free at last" said the dreamer.

Free at last. Thank God almighty...we are free at last.