He was a living celebrity, a celebrated hero in his own making, blessed with a fore sightedness and supervision, yet he was ordinary like you and me fighting  to suppress  his own fiery nature.  As the most visible advocate of non-violence and direct action as methods of social change, doctor Martin Luther king junior, was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929. As the grand son of the Rev. A.D Williams, Pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist church and founder of Atlanta's N A A C P chapter and the son of Martin Luther king senior. Dr king's roots were in the African-American Baptist church. After attending college in Atlanta, king went on to study at Crozer theological seminary in Pennsylvenia where he deepened his understanding of theological erudition and explored Mahatma Gandhi's known violence strategy for social change. King Married Coretta Scott in 1953 and two years later, he received his Ph. D in systematic theology.
   
Dr. king's political career was not to begin until the 5th of Dec. 1955 when civil rights activist Rosa parks refused to comply with Montgomery segregation on buses.
Negro residents lunched a bus boycott and elected king president of the newly formed montgomery improvement association. The boycott continued through out 1956 and king gained national prominence for his roll in the campaign. In Dec.1956 the US supreme court declared Alabama's segregation laws unconstitutional and montgomery buses were desegregated. Seeking to build upon the successess registered in montgomery, king and other southern black ministers were later to create the Southern Christian leadership conference. A crusading force for Negro American rights.

    The 1960's were turbulent years. America's peaceful streets were now hunting and slaying growns. Riot police were murderously pickniking on their own citizens. The nation's political history had taken  a violent turn. America was on the brink of collapse. She was in the melting pot of a moral crises. Dr king was to champion the course for liberty, justice and equality now or never. Subsequent mass demonstrations culminated in the march on Washington where king delivered his famous "I have a dream speech". He was to be a receipient of an assasin's bullet four years later on April 4 th 1968.

    After Jesus Christ the best role model for me is the Rev. Dr.Martin Luther king
junior. There are several reasons why he captivates my attention. Firstly his using the method of non violence help the civil rights movement, but the method also exemplified the kind of person Dr king was. Secondly Dr king urged each individual to examine themselves. Finally, just as Jesus did in the midst of hatred, Dr king showed love by giving up his life. Furthermore, this guru's message was not just about black and white. His message was far more universal and relevant in nature. His decision to stand against the vietnam war, and equate American agression abroad to American agression at home in the midst of significant opposition is a tribute to his dedication to truth. His speech about the danger of American unilateral action in Vietnam and it's effects abroad
in diminishing America's goods will is as poignant today as it ever was.

    Sadly the great words and ideas of Rev. king faded into oblivion upon his death. He was a prophet and a prophetic voice to the peoples and nations of the world. He lived out the message of Christ and is the kind of warrior that the Lord still searches for today; one who believes in the power of forgiveness and love in action. He speaks today to those brave souls who hear with spiritual ears, see with spiritual eyes and walk on blessed feet following after Christ. He was a person who believed that in a democracy if you saw something you felt it was wrong, you had a right to speak up. It didn't mean that everyone will agree with you. And I think that is something we have to remember today. He showed us that the best of a democracy was a right to protest, to speak out, the right to name injustice when you thought you saw it.

     Dr king remains an undying icon. His unsurpassed moral courage is a living inspiration. He was and is moral force. Born in depression with a silver spoon in his mouth, he devoted himself to the dregs of American humanity to make America look at them, the way he looked at them with love. The murderer who murdered him, also murdered the posibility of a better future in this world. He constantly forces us to realise that our individual acts or our collective acts all have repercussions or implications and we have to consider these things  and be responsible. He teaches us that the conscience is an important part of how we determine what we do everyday. And the measure of our lives and the measure of the value of our lives is what we do everyday, not somedays, not sometimes, but everyday, all the times. And when speaking about the vietnam war,he is basically saying injustice anywhere is a treat to justice anywhere. It's veracity is conspicous of Irak and Afghanistan today.

     "Put each and every person in his element, and you will see the unbelieveable progress in him". This were the words of this legend to an oppressed crowd. I want to thank Dr king for putting me in my element. I thank him for giving me this sterling chance in mirrowing the hidden potentials in me. His contribution to humanity shall not go unappreciated.