From a Seattle Times article in Saturday’s paper:
King’s daughter rouses audience: ‘Will it matter that you lived?’
A Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. event is a means toward inspiration….
The prelude to yesterday’s event was a taped recording of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. But its coda was the resonant voice of King’s youngest daughter, Bernice. She was 5 years old when her father was killed. She is now a lawyer and minister.“I am your wake-up call,” she said, microphone in hand, as she paced at the pulpit. “Martin Luther King didn’t live for bling-bling, young people,” she continued. Or for fame, a promotion, a paycheck or popularity.
“Martin Luther King Jr. lived on purpose.” She urged everyone to recognize their own significance, their own purpose. “You aren’t here by accident,” she said. “You made it to Earth. You penetrated the egg. That’s to suggest you are great and unique. Do not tell children to be another Martin Luther King. Let them be who God placed them on the Earth to be.”
She challenged the schoolchildren to consider their immediate lives. Life, she said, is not about duration but rather donation.
She urged everyday folks who are critical of President Bush not to thrust blame on him but to assume individual responsibility and reach one’s potential — for the good of society.
“Want me to let you in on a secret?” she whispered, leaning on the podium. “It ain’t about you.”
She drummed on: Every nine seconds a child drops out of school. Every minute a teenager gives birth. Every three hours someone under 20 dies from a gunshot wound.
“America does not know its purpose. When the dirt gets thrown on you, will it matter that you lived?”
