"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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