I Saw The Dream

As you know yesterday was the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. As it happens, I found that some of Dr. King’s words were very profound and intensely personal in his famous “I Have A Dream” speech.

Dr. King most famously said: “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.”

Last week in our home we had a birthday party for our 9 year old granddaughter, Sadie. It was a Southern Belle party where little girls dressed up in beautiful dresses and had a wonderful time being little ladies in what could have been the environment of an old Southern plantation, with one very big and important difference. This time instead of little black girls being the servants of the white children, they too were wearing the pretty party dresses and being served alongside their white counterparts as guests at the party.

It struck me so strongly today and made my heart smile to know that in some small way Dr. King’s “dream” was being realized at our celebration.

Black children (possibly the great great grandchildren of former slaves), and white children (possibly the great great grandchildren of former slave owners), were both all dressed up and enjoying each other as they should, as children created equal in the sight of God.

As I read and reread Dr. King’s words it came to me that what I am most pleased about, and grateful for, is that it never crossed Sadie’s mind that it would be any other way. In wanting to have a Southern Belle themed party she wasn’t being insensitive to the past or just trying to show tolerance for those whose skin color is different than hers. She wasn’t being politically correct. She was just being a child and wanting her friends, who happen to be both black and white, to celebrate together with her. And isn’t that truly what Dr. King was dreaming of?  In a small but sure way, I saw the dream coming true. and I am ever so grateful for it.