Rain's Thursday Art Date - My dream

Hi Everybody!

In light of recent events and the murder of George Floyd by a white policeman, I have changed the post I had planned for Rain's theme this week and am bringing part of  Dr Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech, which moved so many people. A lot of progress has been made since then, and parts of his dream have come true, but  hate and intolerance are still poisoning society.

It is nearly 60 years since Dr King made this speech, and it saddens  and maddens me to see that there is still so much injustice in the world. We all need to open our eyes, minds and mouths and to speak out against all forms of racial and religious discrimination. If we don't, we make ourselves guilty. 

Intolerance and hate are unfortunately prevalent in many lands of the world, and we have a long way to go to heal all the differences. But we should never give up. Let's keep on hoping that the world will be a better place, and make it to our own dream!

(Photos today courtesy of Wikipedia)

"I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,    From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring."

There are good people and bad people, and many who are indifferent, and that is almost as bad. A British pastor,  G.A. Studdert-Kennedy, who was a military chaplain in the First World War, wrote a poem called indifference:

'When Jesus came to Golgotha, they hanged Him on a tree,  They drove great nails through hands and feet, and made a Calvary;  They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, red were His wounds and deep,  For those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap.

When Jesus came to Birmingham they simply passed Him by,  They never hurt a hair of Him, they only let Him die;  For men had grown more tender, and they would not give Him pain,  They only just passed down the street, and left Him in the rain.

Still Jesus cried, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do,”  And still it rained the wintry rain that drenched Him through and through;  The crowds went home, and left the streets without a soul to see,  And Jesus crouched against a wall and cried for Calvary.'

We need to stand up and make our voices heard. 

Don't let  evil people like 'He-who-must-not-be-named' win. 

Let`s work together for a world where people of all races, religions and colours can feel at home. 

That's my dream.