Fit For A King

Welcome to another episode of Halftime Talks. My name is Rahim Rasul, and you’re listening to the podcast, but we recognize that in the middle of your game of life, whether you’re by 10 or down by 20, each of us, you and I, we both need halftime talks to uplift us, inspire us and challenge us to bring that level of performance it’s gonna take to win the game.

Yo. So we’re back. It’s another episode, and before we get into it, we get into a little bit of appreciation. So let’s go ahead and rock it today. What I want to appreciate dates. Back to my childhood. One of my favorite TV shows growing up, was the A team, the Hannibal, the principal character, used to say, I like it when a plan comes together, and I want to appreciate those plans that begin to congeal, the vision that begins to show itself in the world, to think that our idea as we sat scribbling and sketching on a notepad has turned to people that we could not have predicted, orchestrating and coming into our life to play vital roles, putting right pieces of the components in the place of the puzzle, empty spaces.

I love that feeling when a when a flag comes together, and that is today’s appreciation. Thank you for affording me some 80s television pop culture references. I appreciate that. I do love when a plan comes together, and in today’s episode, is there a plan? And has it come together? And yes, it has, you’re listening to this. This is January 2019 as I’m recording it. It is Martin Luther King, the observance of his birthday. It is January 21 and today he and what he represents, embodies and has sent through rippling in time, is what we are going to talk about in this episode. It’s no different, almost, than the appreciation congealing a vision allowing the orchestrated pieces to come together.

You know who we are, where we are, who we want to be, is only a process of not just clarifying that vision, but becoming it as well. So as we begin to focus into the episode, let’s just relax, take a deep breath, a few breaths, let’s get our mind right, because you Music.

Welcome in today’s episode, I want to talk about a man clearly with the intro, you understand, I’m talking about Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr, not just who he was, but what he has come to represent. And I think a lot of things about him and what he represents falls to the crack of our understanding. While symbols are great, unless we are truly focusing on what they embody and what they represent, are we really honoring who they are. It’s easy to look at Martin Luther King and throw him in a category of civil rights, of religion, of race, of gender, of nationality, but all of these are labels, which sometimes does help us niche down and focus, but other times, it blinds us to the broader picture at play.

If you like me, have felt assaulted by the inter workings of media, the provocateurs of politics, the provocateurs of these platforms of information, we have launched a collective vision for not only who we want to be. But also with the provocateurs of politics. What we want for our country, the beauty of history, it has given us individuals like Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and he stood there in the middle of America in the midst of the late 50s and early 60s, sitting in the pot a pressure cooker of reality that wanted him on the outside, that didn’t want to hear his voice in quiet workshops of his church, of his parishioners, of the moments that he was leading, he crafted something, something that ripples even right now today where we stand, And that was a vision for who we could become.

And so in the midst of right now, no matter where you stand, what sidelines of politics, what sidelines of all these things we stand on, we have an uncompromising vision for America. That vision, every time we tune in to the television, every time we see somebody at a political podium, our image of what it means to be America shifts. Our patriotism is high because we love what we represent, even in the midst of what the Civil Rights represented, even the midst of Jim Crow the antebellum south, all the things that were stacked up against a certain class of individuals, to to prosper, to excel in equity, a man had a vision, not only for his People, but he had a vision for this country.

My father served the United States Air Force, a series of presidents in this country while putting on a uniform. Martin Luther King served this country without it, our service to this country is essential for it to continue. I look at the flag and I still am patriotic, no matter how high it flies or how low it may slumber. The beauty of a Martin Luther King is that through the Founding Fathers, through all the presidents in history, throughout these figures that make their mark in the indelible impression of time, they show us a vision. They show us what we’re capable of. He represented somebody where we focused our collective vision through and he gave a voice to our message.

There’s nothing saying. There’s nothing that somebody can say that can dissuade or persuade you not to sit in your quiet corner, craft a vision and come up to speed with you. Don’t need to be that martyr. You don’t need to lead the movement, but you do have to hold it true within your heart. Now, was he perfect? No. Was he ideal? Yes. Was he what we needed? Yes. And now we sit here in 2019 celebrating his birthday through the most auspicious of circumstances surrounding his death to now revering, not just the man, but what this man stands for, not just for our country, not not as an African American, but as a citizen of humanity.

What can we do? Maybe not at that scale, but of that import, that significance, so often we rail and rally against. Are we clear? What we’re moving toward? Are we clear? Clear of our vision, or are we clear of what we’re against? Oftentimes the latter holds more weight. It feels like we have to keep up the fight, when truly we have to focus our eyes and our sight on that vision and becoming it and practicing it, because even many years after what will be his assassination, we are still striving to become more that perfect union that the founding fathers of this great nation set forth. And so he is the epitome of patriotism, of citizenry and a visionary. Thanks. Martin peace, you.