The sleepiness of December weighs heavily on me every year. I feel like the new year is a time for reset, but for the most part I don’t feel like I’m in peak shape, or creativity, and certainly not productivity.  But then the day to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream arrives and I personally feel like my life becomes refocused, and reinvigorated. Take a moment – listen to one of his speeches – get inspired by his voice and delivery. He was truly an amazing human being.

The above photo is maybe one of my all-time favorites.  I remember seeing this on a beach in Pacifica, CA and just knowing that we’ve moved forward as a society. A large stand of trees in the foggy past. The image is on rough, unfinished concrete, placed on a large drainage structure. It’s a rough place to put a future President.

I feel like many faces are stenciled publicly for all sorts of devious reasons. Usually a lack of voice inspires public graffiti, but in this case, it felt like more of an affirmation of voice. I think Dr. King would have been very proud to know that someone of great moral, emotional, and intellectual passion was our first president of color.

As the inauguration proceeds today, I will watch it. I have rarely not cried when President Obama speaks. He is what our country needed and continues to need. Whether or not you agree with his politics (I certainly don’t always embrace all his policies and actions), he has allowed us to rise up from a place of fear into a place of action, accountability, and progress.

I believe this quote by Rosa Parks sums it up for me:

Please celebrate Dr. King’s birthday by doing something that will help push you towards making up your mind and acting on your dreams.

Sincerely,

Lech