In probably his most famous speech, Martin Luther King Jr. declares…

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

“Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring — when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children — black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics - will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

On this day that we celebrate the great Civil Rights leader, an inspiration, and a beacon of light in American History. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is not just another day, but a great reminder that equality, justice, hope, faith, and peace are all part of the cornerstone of great nations. This day, the birth of a great leader was to be the start of a great snowball effect to stop the movement of injustice, stop the flow of inequality, and to halt the tide of racism.

Many individuals will argue that this fight is not over, and I would have to agree with these individuals, because we can never truly forget nor should we ever forget that race was an issue and is still an issue. To deny that fact is to deny our history and the lessons we learned during the civil rights movement.

Martin Luther King, let us also not forget, was just in his mid-twenties when he was thrust into this role of being a leader, not just to a congregation, but for an entire race.

Yes, Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, and so did Gandhi and so did Abraham Lincoln, so did Mother Theresa, and the same with John F. Kennedy… I have a dream myself, that leaders across this world will see the light of inspiration, the desperate cries of injustice that is still going on, not only in the bayous of New Orleans, but in the embattled cities of Iraq, in the sands of Somalia, and the cities of Thailand, in the government of Burma, to the shores of North Korea, the fight is not over. That beacon of light, of inspiration, I hope will shine across our nations, into the hearts of men.