Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Donating money today for Haiti I was asked if I wanted to donate in memory of anyone. At first I said no, but quickly thought and said my dad, whose birthday was Jan. 15th. My dad was a quiet, hard working man. From working on a car, to building a recreational room, to welding, my dad was skilled in so many ways of physical labor. My dad enjoyed all forms of physical labor from cleaning out the gutters to working on an electric problem.
His manual skills made his loss of memory with Alzheimer’s so much the more difficult on him and the family. He went from dong major maintenance on his and my house to not remembering how to start the lawnmower. It was hard for him to be dependent on me, very manually unskilled, for the simplest job.
But my dad in his older age developed a sense of humor, something he never showed any of us in his younger years. He started joking with all of us. Unfortunately the disease of Alzheimer’s took over his mind and he even lost his new found sense of humor. After my mother died he did not want to live any longer and died eight months later.
My dad’s work ethic was truly inspiring in my life. Although my work has been in business and ministry I have this drive to work hard.
My dad shared his birthday with a well known person, Martin Luther King Jr. Although we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday next Monday, his birthday was the 15th. Martin Luther King is truly one of the greatest Americans of the 20th century. His life and words have inspired me to fight for human rights with nonviolence. His call to arms is with me in all I do.
As I grow older I appreciate the lessons of work ethic from dad and the lessons in struggling for truth from Martin Luther King. I try to put the two lessons, work ethic and struggle for truth , together. Together they make for an exciting life. Today is double birthday day.
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