I HAD A DREAM...
And then I woke up...
Saw the news...
Terrorism; hatred; violence...
So called "militants" who are really just criminals; so called "militants" who are really just terrorists; so called freedom fighters who don't really believe in freedom; rights advocates who believe only in their own rights; God being used by many as the reason to kill the other; hatred limiting progress and worse regressing life and horrific acts becoming so commonplace that stupid human drama becomes top of mind; discussion and search....
Yet...
We live in a world where anything is possible. The tools we have at our disposal are being used to cure disease; increase crop yield; better predict dangerous weather; provide clean water and medical aid to all; educate the masses and level the global playing field making everything good more exponentially possible.
Today in the United States we commemorate the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King -- he would have been 84 years old had he not been cut down by an assassin's bullet -- 84 and my bet is that he would have been active; digitally savvy and harnessing the best we have to make the world better.
His Dream would have been empowered and in turn would have empowered... even as it does today -- but more so....
I encourage you -- wherever you are and whatever you believe to spend a few minutes learning about Dr. King and a few more minutes meditating on his words. As I reviewed them this weekend, I was struck by how relevant his message is not just spiritually but as a guide to living in today's hyper-connected and ever fragmenting digital world...
I will end with a thought of his that speaks volumes to those of us who Tweet; Facebook; Instagram; Blog; Whatsapp; etc...
Listen:
"We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever effects one directly, affects all indirectly." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr - Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Does this not ring true in our digitally networked always-on world? Is this not what every single new endeavor out there today is saying and selling as they try to monetize our human behavior? And is this not the promise of all that we can do and achieve today? More meaningful than "do no evil"... if there was ever a single credo for our world today... a goal for us to work towards this is it.
What's your dream?
What do you think?