When thinking of Dr. King, most people immediately call to mind his "I Have a Dream" speech with good reason. It remains one of the most powerful orations of all time. I see it referenced everywhere on this day each year but it reminds me that if we focus solely on this one speech, on this one moment in time, we miss so much of Dr. King’s further message and do a disservice to his legacy. And, it reminds me that I may be in the minority that when I think of him, I think of another speech entirely.
The “Drum Major Instinct” sermon, the last he would give before his tragic murder that would follow two months later, spoke to the core of me from the moment I heard it in third grade courtesy of my teacher and dear friend, Wilma Milton. Mrs. Milton was the only African American educator I ever had in our rural Oklahoma district and I choose to use the term educator as she was the embodiment of all that word encompasses. With the admission by Dr. King that he had been arrested and jailed (which up to that point would have automatically made someone a “bad” person in my 8 year old mind as there was not yet an understanding that there were gray areas in our world and that gross injustice often warrants insurrection), its description of the ego's striving to be seen, driving our desire to be first and most and best and set apart and above that he refers to as the “drum major instinct” (that even at that age I could recognize within myself as a negative personal aspect), and its assurance through the explanation of Jesus’ experience (can you fathom this being taught in a classroom today??) that we are each and all not only capable of but called to greatness, it changed me. It was as if my young mind had been blown right out of the top of my skull in that Washington Elementary classroom. And while I would discover years later that we only listened to a small portion of the sermon because Mrs. Milton had parsed and played only what she obviously felt was appropriate and within our ability to comprehend, I know now that she did so with impeccable choosing because it remains with me today.
Did the rest of my classmates grasp the nuances or internalize this message? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But, I know now that those things that are for us will not pass us by and without question, this message from Dr. King was absolutely for me. I have recalled it a million and fifty-eight times during the course of my life as a kind of self-check of my motivations for doing things, as an evaluation of the current state of my ego. It always brings me back to center, to authenticity. I remain eternally grateful to Wilma for being the conduit of this and so many other priceless life lessons that were, without my knowing, shaping me to become who I am today even at that tender age. Maybe you, too, will be shaped by Dr. King’s word in this sermon? I certainly know a certain person in a position of profound power in our country who were he capable of comprehending it, could greatly benefit.
Dr. King's closing words echo for all eternity in an almost prophetic manner and I will continue to carry them in my heart for all of my days…
"Every now and then I guess we all think realistically (Yes, sir) about that day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common denominator—that something that we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death and I think about my own funeral. And I don't think of it in a morbid sense. And every now and then I ask myself, "What is it that I would want said?" And I leave the word to you this morning.
If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. (Yes)
I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. (Yes)
I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.
I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen)
I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes)
And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)
I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)
I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that's all I want to say.
If I can help somebody as I pass along,
If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,
If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,
Then my living will not be in vain.
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,
If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,
If I can spread the message as the master taught,
Then my living will not be in vain.
Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, (Yes) not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world."
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