Once again, I steal any good thoughts from illdoctrine.com

Much love to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the flawed, real human beings that fought and struggled to increase justice and mercy in our world. Society does no favor to King's legacy by reducing it to one speech, or one issue and it does no favor to the rest of humanity to elevate King above his humanity. Dr. King worked to end poverty, bring about reparations for slavery, and an end to war.

Dr. King was a person who was a creature of his time. He may or may not have supported LGBT rights when he was alive, and he may or may not have supported LGBT rights if he were alive today. This is not to minimize the struggles and necessity of LGBT rights, but to emphasize that Dr. King may have had his vision limited by prejudices that are apparant to us today as racism was apparant to Dr. King in his day. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was and is a great man, a person to emulate. But let us not lose sight of the fact that he was also a man, and that what he did and who he became is achievable not just by a select few, but by all of us.

Dr. King was inspired in his own day by Jesus, Mahatma Ghandi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and many others. Today, Dr. King continues to exist as an inspiration for those of us alive today and those yet to come. Let us not "white wash" his legacy and our memories of him, thereby making him and what he did for us all unattainable by those who continue the struggle today. Let us see the full spectrum of his character and soul. Knowing that he had flaws, just as the rest of us do, should not be considered scandalous but a reminder that great things can come from any of us, despite of or maybe even as a result of our flaws or weaknesses.

There will always be those that will attempt character assassination of anyone they don't agree with. It is only by embracing the whole person of who Dr. King was will we be able to move beyond this increasing polarization. Just as it is patriotic to say when our country is wrong, so also is respecting the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by remembering that no one is above sin or is perfect.