April 4: Martin Luther King Spoke About Violence

What Reverend King said about violence holds true on this anniversary of the evening that violence claimed his life:

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate...Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that...

The violence of war we see every day will not end until the haters are gone.

The violence of mass shootings we endure every day will not end until the haters are gone.

We all have to make that moral choice to stand up and fight, not for the sake of hate but for the sake of those we can love.

Update: Christ. I looked back at my other memorial blog articles for MLK and I keep quoting this same paragraph. I gotta get fresh material next time...