Renewal – Day 18
We celebrated MLK, Jr. day earlier this week. Most of us are familiar with his famous speech, “I Have A Dream”, delivered on August 28, 1963.
King gave a lesser-known talk on October 26, 1967. It was titled “What Is Your Life’s Blueprint?” In it, he talks about the Three Principles of Somebodiness.
Today, I invite you to renew your commitment to these three principles. You can read the full transcript of the speech here:
Here is a brief summary of each:
1. Number one in your life’s blueprint should be: a deep belief in your own dignity, your own worth, and your own somebodies. Don’t allow anybody to make you feel that you are nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance.
2. Secondly, in your life’s blueprint, you must have as the basic principle the determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavor.
3. And finally, in your life’s blueprint must be a commitment to the eternal principles of beauty, love, and justice. Don’t allow anybody to pull you so low as to make you hate them.
Don’t allow anybody to cause you to lose your self-respect to the point that you do not struggle for justice. However young you are, you have a responsibility to seek to make your nation a better nation in which to live.