The Riverside Speech

 

Sunday, April 20, 2008

The Riverside Speech

"We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity. The "tide in the affairs of men" does not remain at the flood; it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: "Too late." There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect. "The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on..." We still have a choice today; nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation."

Martin Luther King
April, 1968

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My Comments in 2021--

• These words are haunting.
• Were we too late for the baby above at her mother's breast? Was she a lost opportunity?
• Haiti has changed much since 2008. And not for the better. 
• My Haitian friends text me while I type this that food prices are very high and they are afraid in the streets...of being kidnapped. Gangs are being paid to be violent and create chaos. Nothing is sacred. 
• "The moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on."