The Endgame

Talk about standing up against the System and leaving a legacy. So many good quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr. Maybe this one will suffice for now:

“Cowardice asks the question: Is it safe?
Expediency asks the question: Is it politic?
Vanity asks the question: Is it popular?
But conscious asks the question: Is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic nor popular – but one must take it simply because it is right.”

Do you have a favorite quote by MLK? What do you think is his greatest legacy?

MLK's "I Have a Dream" Speech
I always think of MLK's namesake, Martin Luther, especially in his trying, yet courageous defense at the Diet of Worms in 1521, where he concluded:

"Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. *Here I stand, I can do no other. May God help me. Amen."

He was soon after declared an outlaw and could have been killed on sight were it not for Frederick of Saxony's daring plan to stage a kidnapping en route and secret him away in Wartburg Castle.

*Attributed/apocryphal.

While we're on the subject, it might be noted that MLK's theological views in seminary papers were patently heretical. Still, his stance on racial justice and peace was heroic. He stood up to the terrorists, men with badges and Bibles, shook his fist in their faces, prayed for them, and took a bullet for it.