I HAVE A DREAM

Today is Martin Luther King Junior Day.

Out of his excellent speech that August day in 1963, one line stands out in memory above all the others: 'I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will be judged, not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.'

I am told it was an aside not written in his notes, but it certainly was an expression of his heart. His speech during The March on Washington is a speech everyone should hear. It was definitely a pivotal speech on a pivotal day in our nation's history.

I had just graduated from High School that Spring. I didn't understand the full significance of what he alluded to at the time. In fact, it was not until I attended Evergreen State College and spent a quarter studying Black History that I truly began to understand. I was horrified by the talent that had been wasted - and kept hidden. Black authors had not been part of my educational curriculum in my younger years. Black History was ignored. I felt that loss keenly once I learned what I had been deprived of.

I feel the same way about the absence of being taught the true history of our nation.

I have a dream. It is the American dream. The original American dream. I want the truth of 'who we were founded to be' taught in our schools, and to all who enter our borders. We were founded as a nation based on the notion that all men are created equal - and that preposterous notion came straight from the Bible. We were founded on Christian principles. But we have strayed so far from that, that it was never included in the education I received in our public schools, or even in my college education. I didn't know that 103 of the first 106 colleges/universities in America were founded as Christian schools - to train missionaries to the Indians, and preachers to carry the gospel to the masses.

I never did have a history teacher who made history interesting or pertinent, it's true. Memorizing a bunch of dates is not nearly so important as understanding the why of the various times.... But it was far more than the style of teaching - it was the content that was equally lacking. Writers of the history books I was taught from re-wrote our history to sanitize it of all that was 'religious' and in so doing, they deprived us of learning the truth of our roots.

I cannot go back and un-do the past but I want children - and adults - to know the truth about who we were founded to be! I don't ever want Americans to be coerced to be one denomination - or even one religion. I am not threatened by accepting others' choice not to believe as I do - but I certainly want them to have the opportunity to hear Truth. And - I believe we are under threat of becoming a nation that has lost its bearings. When that happens - when God is no longer honored - we will cease to exist. Our only hope is in His protection.

I have a dream. It is a dream that affirms all of the good things Martin Luther King expressed in his stated dreams for our country - and includes a dream for America to be re-established as a Christian nation. I can dream! And I can pray for revival!

Some people in 1963 didn't believe that the changes that needed to take place would. It would be easy now to be skeptical about the right kind of change taking place in the United States of America. God is our only hope. Dare to dream!