"I Have Been To The Mountain Top"
By Danny Schechter
New York, New York: Mountaintops offer dynamic vistas and symbolize not only physical heights but inspiring points of prominence.
On the night before he was murdered, Martin Luther King told a packed church in Memphis where he was crusading on behalf of the city's garbage workers, that he had been to the mountain top.
He was practically singing as he bellowed, " Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!"
To him, climbing that mountain also offered him a panoramic view of a world of pain and change. Earlier in that prophetic final oration, he spoke of the human condition.
the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around. That's a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars."
I have just returned from another mountaintop where the streets are packed with people traipsing through the cold and snow--looking for other stars--movie stars.
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