Normally the major news sites have major pieces on MLK, both during the run-up to the holiday and on this day. Obama's inauguration is overshadowing that. Perhaps it should. I don't really know.

What I do know is that Dr. King became an advocate for social justice, period. It cost him the support of many in the civil rights movement. In terms of civil rights for African-Americans, he was called forth and was a great voice and leader of the times. In terms of understanding the many, many implications of social justice across the fabric of society, he was a prophet, and well ahead of his time. He is still ahead of his time in that respect.

It goes without saying that change in large societies (and really, what is now a society of the world, though not very cohesive,) is incremental and slow. (and cyclical.) The election of Barack Obama reflects one legacy of Dr. King and the many others who came before or after, or walked with him in one way or another. Let us hope that this new president, who is quite the moderate but who seems to understand the social change process, is able, with the help of thoughtful citizens and other leaders, to move us an inch or two further down the path of social justice.

I heard an interesting discussion on The State of Things, a locally produced and North Carolina focused public radio show. One of the participants was a Dr. King scholar. He talked about a paper Dr. King wrote while in seminary at about age 19 regarding the prophet Jeremiah, that intimated Dr. King's awareness that he was compelled to follow a calling. It was not necessarily the life he would have chosen for himself sans the calling. Jeremiah, like all prophets, was a man ahead of his time. In his paper, Dr. King reflected that society destroys such men. At that young age, I'm sure Dr. King had no idea of where he was headed or that he would be physically destroyed by elements of the society he was called to confront and change. By the time he began to publicly address issues of poverty, unfair labor practices and the economics and class issues of war, however, he did understand that he was risking losing much of his power-base for change. Ultimately, he decided it was the right thing to do, and what he was called to do.

The iconic Dr. Martin Luther King celebrated by the holdiay and the assorted marches, etc. that occur is akin to the George Washington who cut down the cherry tree. We always make our heroes larger than life, and simplier than life.