The Question of Equality: "To Be, or, Not To Be."

I will be celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. [MLK] Day tomorrow, along with millions of others. The celebration for me will not be in doing the parades, the "freedom" train rides nor participating in the many other events that now mark the day.

I will be still.
I will think back.
I will remember.

I will know that I woke up on this day, January 16, free to choose to work, or not to work on that day.

I will celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. and the legacy of his life on earth, which now benefits each and every African-American today and those for generations to come.

Some African-Americans, who have the choice to stay home, still will go to work as normal on January 16. That's not because they don't honor Dr. King and his legacy, but because they do not see the relevancy to their lives today.

Let me pause, albeit presumptuously, to share that relevance.

As African Americans we would not have a choice to stay home nor to go to work, were it not for the courage and boldness and demands made by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and all the men and women who fought valiantly with him in the 1960s.

Indeed, some 50 years later, we still would be handcuffed mentally to our desks, or lost in factories somewhere, were it not for the lives that were lost in many struggles to celebrate the freedom we all now enjoy just "to be."

"To Be, Or Not To Be that is the question," asks William Shakepeare in Act 3, Scene 1, of Hamlet.

"Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep
No more; and by a sleep, to say we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks
That flesh is heir to?"

Shakespeare was writing of love.

I'm writing of LIFE.

"Light, Life and Love" these are the three keys to our "beingness:"

To be a light into life by demonstrating and being "LOVE."

That is what MLK, Jr. gave and did for us all as African Americans.

I am convinced that there is a "Jesus" being born and dying for us all each day, though we do not know it.

If there is a "second coming," it is the "coming to" of our realization of what lies within us to do and be like "Jesus" in our walk in the world.

MLK, Jr. certainly manifested "Jesus-like" traits by choosing to live for the vast world of African-Americans and the down-trodded vs. only for his family and himself.

I am convinced that, as we grow in consciousness, the task for us is not to see ourselves in the world but to see the world in ourselves.


We are being called upon to look at each child as our own...each person who is a mother/father as our own relative...as our sisters and brothers all. We are called upon to treat each other as "family."

This is the task of "beingness" in the world and our ultimate challenge: to be more like the example "Jesus" demonstrated, even as we honor our unique selves!

"God will not judge Akiba for not being Moses, God will judge Akiba for not being Akiba."-From The Talmud

We are each a "Jesus" in some way to others when we choose "to be" a source of inspiration [read "light"] to others through the demonstration of our lives given in love to others.

Every day I wake, I'm not thinking of being "Jesus" in an active way.

I simply am thinking of being the best I can be in that moment...in that day... that would benefit my life and those of others.

Trust me...some days, it is all about "me." That's okay.

I know that on some days, that's all I'm required " to be."

Just to be "me" ...to show up and "be" the Presence I'm called to "be,"in whatever world I happen to be interacting in that day.

Just "to be" that Presence.

For some, this is a daunting task.

So many try "to be," what they are not called "to be," in any given moment and time.

They try so hard to emulate and imitate others. They try so hard to "hide out," in their public selves the images they have chosen to give themselves. This is when folks end up getting angry, being jealous, petty and mean to each other. We wind up fearing that " our good" is being taken from us and this is the real reason we separate ourselves from others.

"To Be," or "Not To Be" that is the question.

The question really means to be of yourself in any given moment.

To Be.

To be what you're called to be in the moment: strong, weak, loving, challenging, bold, humble, sincere, friendly, courageous, feisty?

"To be or not to be, that is the question."

I have a beautiful piece on my bedroom wall, right opposite my bed, that I've owned for many years. I gaze upon it each day.

When I purchased it many years ago, I did not have the consciousness to see it as anything but an attractive piece.
Today, it is "The Spoked Wheel."

"Imagine that each of us is a spoke in an Infinite Wheel, and, though each spoke is essential in keeping the Wheel whole, no two spokes are the same. The rim of the Wheel is our living sense of community, family, and relationship, but the common hub where all the spokes join is the one center where all souls meet. So, as I move out into the world, I live out my uniqueness, but when I dare to look into my core, I come upon the one common center where all lives begin. In that center, we are one and the same. In that way, we live out the paradox of being both unique and the same."
-Mark Nepo, Book of Awakening, January 6.

Each of us, no matter how "small" we feel in the general scheme of things...
No matter how "tiny" others try to make us feel in that "smallness"...need to realize that in their view of their vastness...others, too... ...only are..."tiny spokes"...in a giant wheel.

It is all in how, and who, we choose
to "to be or not to be" in the moment.

"Tiny, small, big, bold?"

Why has Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy lived on through the years?

"Heaven and earth are eternal. They are eternal because they do not exist for themselves. In the same way, a truly holy person does not live for himself, and therefore he can become eternal and can achieve anything."
- Lao-Tzu

Did he fight for equality, or the right for each and every one of us, simply,
"to be?"

Are we equal, or allowed "to be or not to be?"

Think on these things on January 16.

Namaste',
Che'