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Lots of people dread the approaching 12 months, not solely as a result of local weather change will proceed to threaten houses and communities, nor for the myriad challenges that loom however as a result of 2024 is a presidential election 12 months.
The previous two seasons, in 2016 and 2020, revealed a stage of mounting civic bile that makes viewers change off tv information and avert their eyes when opening a newspaper.
That’s the reason, on at the present time honoring the life’s work of Martin Luther King Jr., it is very important hear the phrases of one other pastor clearly impressed by his spirit. The Rev. Dee Eisenhauer of Eagle Harbor Congregational Church on Bainbridge Island gave the opening prayer at Gov. Jay Inslee’s ultimate State of the State tackle final week, reminding listeners to be pleased about life itself.
She identified that no matter drive created humanity, it made a rainbow of pores and skin tones — which must be considered as a marvel, somewhat than an issue. She urged us to hear to at least one one other with persistence and attentiveness, most particularly in areas of disagreement. She may need been channeling King.
As he proved, it’s attainable throughout occasions of bitter division to be united within the bigger aim of lifting individuals up, even when we aren’t at all times unanimous on how greatest to take action.
Like King, the Bainbridge pastor was not advocating a milquetoast method to governing. She exhorted a “fiery ardour for justice,” and the governor ran with this theme. Nobody could be beneath any phantasm that social justice was achieved with passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, he mentioned, emphasizing work nonetheless to do in two areas King would have championed: environmental justice and housing those that are homeless.
Reminder: For all his dedication to bridging divides, King was unapologetic about his impatience at always being informed to attend for “a extra handy season” to push for change. Proper on.
Sixty-one years after he wrote these phrases in a Birmingham jail, they echo louder than ever. So, on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, roll up your sleeves and get activated for the pivotal 12 months going through our state and nation.
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