Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. once stated that any man who does
not have something for which he is willing to die is not fit to live. On face
value it comes across as a rather provocative statement, but on closer
observation, it is perhaps more so.
Think about it.
Ask
yourself, for what are you willing to die? Paul, in his
letter to the Christians in Rome, said “…scarcely for a righteous man will one
die: peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.” We couple that with the example of the Japanese
fighter pilots that committed themselves to death in the attack on Pearl Harbor;
and even the contemporary example of the jihadist that crashed planes on 9-11
and explode bombs in public markets around the world.
However, the question remains, For what are you willing to die?
As
a writer, I explore many concepts and ideas as a regular
course of thinking, but when pressed to ask myself what reaches that highest
point of self-sacrifice, I too am brought up short and forced to examine what I
hold most sacred. Of course, I say like most of my readers, I would die for my
wife and children, my mother and siblings, but for the most part these are
unasked…or at least un-required offerings. What becomes a more pertinent question, and what I believe to be at the core of
Dr. King’s question, rather is, For what
am I willing to live?
What
is it that gives your life purpose and cause? What identifies
you and will long after you have passed off the scene call to remembrance that
you were even here? So my challenge to you is not that you die valiantly, but
rather that you live on purpose and with cause. Live each day in such a way that those around you are made better,
and in spite of hard times experienced, joy will be the lingering fragrance of
your time shared.
For what do you have to live? Think about it.
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