Exceptional writing continues expressions fundamental to history, culture, the present, and the future. Exceptional writing learns from a specific, yet universal worldview, and lives-out those expressions in the heat of a historical moment.
Exceptional writers hold two “elements of style” in common. They explain what others do not see in their context (authors dream), and they do so with well-chosen words. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, in my opinion, with these perceptions.
Education and worldview determine an author or speech writer’s emphasis. King did not graduate from high school. He passed the Morehouse College entrance exam qualifying him to enter college. At Morehouse, College, professors told Luther to “seek truth”.
During years of study, Martin Luther King, Jr. found the power of truth and freedom in the writing of Mahatma Gandhi and the forceful and effective words of Henry David Thoreau’s, “Civil Disobedience”. Perhaps Jesus‘ words, inextricably personal, inspired the theme of King’s, “I Have A Dream” speech. Jesus says, when “…living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.” (John 8:32)
Whether Gandhi, Thoreau, the Christ, or you and I, words belong to their author. Each understands personal responsiblity and the obligation of affect. They could veer or adhere to the truth. When an author’s thoughts skew or eschew eternal truths, manipulation and self-aggrandizing inevitably distract and destroy.
An author’s commitment to truth faces tests at all levels. Enemies of truth attack the message, and when eluded, they kill the messenger. Ghandi died of a gun shot wound. Thoreau died of a mortal cold caught when counting tree-rings in December of 1860. Jesus died by crucifixtion. Each man inspired the thought, character, and action of King.
Martin Luther King, Jr. understood that truth matters because without truth no eternal principle brings hope or change. Every great writer (there aren’t many in our proxlixic age) has moments when words flow like a river, or drip like a leaking faucet. No matter how the words appear, authors, blog-writers, article-writers, journalists, professors, or local cub-reporters must realize that words imprison or set free, give life or take life.
Martin Luther King, Jr. studied history, the failures of government and culture, the call to keep promises made to all, and the “urgency of the moment”. Each point of the “I Have a Dream” speech emphasizes the importance of historical precedent (good or evil), the short-falls of injustice, and the unparalleled power of words.
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