Lessons from MLK – 2023-01-14

AO: Terminus
QiC: Smalls
Pax Count: 4
Pax List: Buttercup, Chemical Bond, Gronkins, Smalls
FNG Count: 0
Downrange:

Warm up:

A brisk wind greeted us this morning at the Meadow. We did some weird numbers of SSH, Weed Pickers, Butt kickers, standing lunges, but didn’t linger too long. We moseyed to stonehenge 1, then on to the rock pile, where we hoped we would get a bit of shelter from the wind gusts that brought the feels like down from the 34 temp to 24

The Thang:

On the way to the rock pile, I introduced the pax to “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” written by MLK. The whole document is pasted into the Naked Man Moleskine below, but I started by sharing the context as we moseyed and did some walking lunges.

At the rock pile we went through a circuit 3x:

  1. Burpee Broad Jump about 20 yds
  2. Bear Squats x20
  3. Bonnie Blairs x20 (10 each)
  4. StnMtn Pushups x20
  5. LBC x20
  6. Run a stair loop (run to the stairs south of the bridge, up, across the top to the other set of stairs on the north side of the bridge, down, and back to start)

Once we returned, I shared a takeaway and some quotes that I latched onto from MLKs letter while the pax planked, wall sat, air chaired, etc.

Rinse and repeat for the other two themes.

Mosey back to Stonehenge 1 for 2 rounds of Mary choose your own adventure.

CoT:

Kept it efficient today so we could get out of the cold. TaPs for Cardinal’s family in Knoxville as they lay him to rest today.

Naked Man Moleskin:

Takeaways from Letter from a Birmingham Jail:

Context: 

  • Jailed for defying a court injunction against marching 
  • 8 clergy (Christian and Jewish) published moderate “A Call to Unity” in a Birmingham newspaper
    • Racial problems exist, but wait on courts
    • Follow laws
    • No Outsiders
  • MLK Responds while in Jail

Three leadership lessons: 

  1. Discover your own moral/ethical clarity to motivate action
  2. Embrace compassionate tension
  3. Tenaciously cling to respect and dignity for those you disagree with

Quotes

  • Discover your moral/ethical clarity to motivate action
      • Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.
      • One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. … One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.” Now, what is the difference between the two? … To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.
  • Embrace compassionate tension
    • But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
    • I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
    • I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom.
  • Tenaciously cling to respect and dignity for those you disagree with
    • Since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.
    • Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
    • If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.