Honoring MLK

It is tempting to take those who have slipped the surly bonds of this broken world and make them into other-worldly figures. Myths come to enshroud certain historical figures--perhaps giving them added power of inspiration but denying that inspiration the grounds for moving the average person today. George Washington could not tell a lie about chopping down the cherry tree, yet every person does lie, as evidenced by the propagation of the cherry tree myth. Since when did transcendence become a higher historical value than accessibility?

Martin Luther King Jr. was a plagiarist and known adulterer. History has forgiven him as well it should, but should his shady side be diminished in order to propagate a mythical figure with the power to inspire, yet bereft of the power to move people? His transgressions, when put in the context of his mighty struggle for basic personhood, prove him to be a more mighty person because he was human, through and through. He was a flawed man seeking justice from a flawed society with flawed rules.

Never should children be told myths, for then mere mortals will fail at attempts to change the world because their heroes are lost to transcendence. Let a child say "I want to be like Martin Luther King" without feeling the pangs of being unable to measure up. For MLK certainly envisioned a society where every person has the opportunity to be hero. He demanded that opportunity, and if society is to respect his legacy, it will demand the same by making its heroes accessible to the average person.