Martin Luther King Jr.

"All I'm saying is simply this, that all life is interrelated, that somehow we're caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality."

Here in North America, their are very few of us that don't know who Martin Luther King Jr. was and how instrumental he was in the equal rights movement.



For those that don't know him, Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Clergyman, activist, and prominent leader. He is best known for his involvement in the advancement of civil rights in the United States, using non-violence methods following the teachings of Mahatma Ghandi.



He was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929 to Martin Luther King Sr. who was a reverend and Alberta Williams King. He skipped the ninth and twelfthed grade and entered college at the age of 15. He graduated with Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology.

He started organizing marches across the United States and spoke at all these events inspiring change and giving his people hope. Among his most successful was March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The made specific demands: an end to racial segregation in public schools; meaningful civil rights legislation, including a law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment; protection of civil rights workers from police brutality; a $2 minimum wage for all workers; and self-government for Washington, D.C., then governed by congressional committee. Despite tensions, the march was a resounding success. More than a quarter million people of diverse ethnicities attended the event, sprawling from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial onto the National Mall and around the reflecting pool.

On April 3, 1968, King said  "Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." 

A next day he was shot and killed in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. His spirit and words of inspiration will never be forgotten.

Ernesto "Che" Guevara

"Man truly achieves his full human condition when he produces without being compelled by the physical necessity of selling himself as a commodity."

If any of you have seen The Motorcycle Diaries, a movie depicting the travels of Che Guevara as a young man through Latin America. You would know his quirky travel companion and friend through that trip, Alberto Granado. Just two days ago, Alberto Granado died at 88 years old, his recent death and the revolutions happening in the Middle East inspired me to write this post.

For those of you that don’t know Che, he was a revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerilla leader, diplomat and military theorist. He was Fidel Castro's right hand man in the historic Cuban revolution. He left his home in Buenos Aires, Argentina at 23 traveling through Chile all the way to Mexico where he met Fidel. The two went on from there to over-take the Batista regime. Throughout his travels he saw the struggles and injustices going on in Latin America and it inspired him to devote his life to helping people and stand up to corrupt governments that were causing a lot of the issues.

He is described as being as being driven by moral rather than material incentives. Even after taking over Cuba where he could have stayed and enjoyed the good life with Fidel having anything he could possibly dream. He left and went out to help other peoples and army’s in revolutions. He went on to Congo to assist in their armed revolution and then Bolivia where he then was captured by American Forces and executed.