(Vol. 114 No. 1) Text (PDF) - Spelman College: Home

wandering bark.” These are beautifulwords of Shakespeare’s. Theyexpress something of the meaning oflove. Then there is another word,philia, which is a sort of intimate affectionbetween personal friends. In asense, this is the sort of love that youhave for your roommate, the personsthat you like and eat dinner with andthe persons you like to talk to on thetelephone. You have this intimate feelingof love because you like them andbecause there is something that youhave in common on this level; you lovebecause you are loved. It is a reciprocallove. The Greek language comes outwith another word, agape. Agape ismore than eros. It is more than philia.It is understanding, creative, redemptivegoodwill to all men. It is a spontaneouslove which seeks nothing inreturn. Theologians would say it is thelove of God operating in the humanheart. When you rise to love on thislevel, you love men not because theyhave any particular meaning to you atthe moment, but you love thembecause God loves them. And so yourise to the point of loving the individualwho does the evil deed while hatingthe deed that he does.I think this is what Jesus meantwhen he said, “Love your enemies.” Iam very happy he did not say likeyour enemies, because it is very hardto like some people. It is hard to likesome senator who waters down thecivil rights bill in Congress; it is prettyhard to like him. It is hard to likesomebody who is bombing yourhouse, who is seeking to kill you anddefeat and destroy your children. It isdifficult to like them. But Jesus says“Love them.” And love is greater thanlike. Love is creative, redemptivegoodwill for all men. When men riseto live on this level, they come to seeall men as children of the almightyGod, and they can look in the eyes ofthe opponent and love him in spite ofhis evil deed.I believe if we will follow this way,we will be able to achieve not onlydesegregation, which will bring ustogether, physically, but also integration,which is true intergroup, interpersonalliving. I believe if we willfollow this type of love, we will go intothe new age with the proper attitude.We will not go believing in any philosophyof black supremacy, for blacksupremacy is as dangerous as whitesupremacy. God is interested merely inthe freedom of the whole human race.It is this type of love which will keepour attitudes right so that we will continueto struggle for first-class citizenship,never using second-classmethods to gain it. We will move outof these mountains that have so oftenimpeded our progress, the mountainof moral and ethical relativism, themountain of practical materialism,the mountain of corroding hatred, bitternessand violence, and the mountainof racial segregation. We will beable to build a new world, and I say toyou this afternoon as you look aheadto the days to come: Always have faithin the possibility of getting over to thepromised land. Don’t become a pessimistand feel that we cannot getthere; it is difficult sometimes, it ishard sometimes, but always have faiththat the promised land can beachieved and that we can possess thisland of brotherhood and peace andunderstanding.I do not give you this element offaith and superficial optimism. I donot stand here as a detached spectator.As I say to you this afternoon, havefaith in the future, I speak as one wholives every day amidst the threat ofdeath. I speak as one who has had tostand often amidst the surging murmurof life’s restless sea, I speak as onewho has been battered often by thejostling winds of adversity, but I havefaith in the future. I have faith in thefuture because I have faith in God andI believe that here is a power, a creativeforce in this universe seeking at alltimes to bring down prodigious hilltopsof evil and pull low giganticmountains of injustice. If we willbelieve this and struggle along, we willbe able to achieve it.Keep moving, for it may be that thegreatest song has not been sung, thegreatest book has not been written, thehighest mountain has not beenclimbed. This is your challenge! Reachout and grab it and make it a part ofyour life. Reach up beyond cloudfilledskies of oppression and bring outblazing stars of inspiration. The basicthing is to keep moving. Move out ofthese mountains that impede ourprogress to this new and noble andmarvelous land. Langston Hughessaid something very beautiful in“Mother to Son.”Well son, I’ll tell youLife for me ain’t been no crystal stair.It’s had tacks in it, splinters,Boards torn up, places with nocarpets on the floors, bare!But all the time, I’se beena-climbingon and reaching landingsAnd turning corners andsometimes going in the darkwhere there ain’t been no light.So boy, don’t you stop now.Don’t you sit down on the stepscause you find it’s kinda hard.For I’se still goin boy, I’se still climbing.And life for me ain’t been nocrystal stair.Life for none of us has been a crystalstair, but there is something we canlearn from the broken grammar ofthat mother, that we must keep moving.If you can’t fly, run, if you can’trun, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl; butby all means keep moving. •W I N T E R / S P R I N G 2 0 0 07