I was watching The Talk on MLK day today and the hosts brought their children because they all were off from school. They asked their children what MLK meant to them. This, out of Sara Gilbert’s 6 year old son:
“Grown-ups know better than to shoot somebody just because they don’t like their words.” Levi Gilbert
Wow. Talk about getting the real meaning of tolerance. It makes me stop and think about the delivery of messages. You can say the same four words twice to someone, and depending on your facial expression and tone of voice, each time you could deliver a totally different message using the same 4 words. One of the freedoms we enjoy in the US is the freedom to agree to disagree. If everyone agreed on everything 100% of the time, our country couldn’t have moved forward as fast as it did over the last century. Martin stood for more than equality. He stood to remind us that it’s okay to disagree, but the delivery of our message is crucial to understanding. He stood for saying how you feel in a peaceful manner, without inciting anger, so people would be more inclined to listen to your point of view.
The extremeness of young Levi’s statement makes us sit up and take note of how we apply Dr. King’s message into our own daily lives, right in our own homes. This is where we teach our children and forge close family relationships. At times of anger, it’s hard to stop and speak coherently, but Levi reminds us, that even as grown-ups, we need time-outs. Time-out to let our anger fade and come up with a better way to deliver our message. I would say Sara and her partner have done an excellent job of teaching their children patience and tolerance of those with ideas different than their own.
And so, as another day goes by, I take heed of a young boy’s message, and…I have written.
Leave a Reply