Wednesday, February 11, 2009

 

Love Your Enemies Cyber-Post

I changed my mind, post your response to the MLK essay: Love Your Enemies Here. I posted the essay in the comment section of this post. The questions follow, you can say more, if you like. Also,please use one in text citation (quote). Use a signal phrase, that is, introduce the speaker. For instance, Martin Luther King says..."QUOTE" (page number)PUNCTUATION.

For the Martin King essay, "Love Your Enemies," reflect on his notion of love. Why does King say we must love our enemy as ourselves? Was he always successful at this? How does he propose we do so?

Do you think Obama in the text is doing the same? What about in his position as President of the United States?

Use evidence from Dreams and from King's sermon to support your claims.

This is due by Tuesday, Feb. 17.

Comments:
I am forced to preach under something of a handicap this morning. In fact, I had the doctor before coming to church. And he said that it would be best for me to stay in the bed this morning. And I insisted that I would have to come to preach. So he allowed me to come out with one stipulation, and that is that I would not come in the pulpit until time to preach, and that after, that I would immediately go back home and get in the bed. So I’m going to try to follow his instructions from that point on.

I want to use as a subject from which to preach this morning a very familiar subject, and it is familiar to you because I have preached from this subject twice before to my knowing in this pulpit. I try to make it a, something of a custom or tradition to preach from this passage of Scripture at least once a year, adding new insights that I develop along the way out of new experiences as I give these messages. Although the content is, the basic content is the same, new insights and new experiences naturally make for new illustrations.

So I want to turn your attention to this subject: "Loving Your Enemies." It’s so basic to me because it is a part of my basic philosophical and theological orientation—the whole idea of love, the whole philosophy of love. In the fifth chapter of the gospel as recorded by Saint Matthew, we read these very arresting words flowing from the lips of our Lord and Master: "Ye have heard that it has been said, ‘Thou shall love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.’ But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven."

Certainly these are great words, words lifted to cosmic proportions. And over the centuries, many persons have argued that this is an extremely difficult command. Many would go so far as to say that it just isn’t possible to move out into the actual practice of this glorious command. They would go on to say that this is just additional proof that Jesus was an impractical idealist who never quite came down to earth. So the arguments abound. But far from being an impractical idealist, Jesus has become the practical realist. The words of this text glitter in our eyes with a new urgency. Far from being the pious injunction of a utopian dreamer, this command is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. Yes, it is love that will save our world and our civilization, love even for enemies.

Now let me hasten to say that Jesus was very serious when he gave this command; he wasn’t playing. He realized that it’s hard to love your enemies. He realized that it’s difficult to love those persons who seek to defeat you, those persons who say evil things about you. He realized that it was painfully hard, pressingly hard. But he wasn’t playing. And we cannot dismiss this passage as just another example of Oriental hyperbole, just a sort of exaggeration to get over the point. This is a basic philosophy of all that we hear coming from the lips of our Master. Because Jesus wasn’t playing; because he was serious. We have the Christian and moral responsibility to seek to discover the meaning of these words, and to discover how we can live out this command, and why we should live by this command.

Now first let us deal with this question, which is the practical question: How do you go about loving your enemies? I think the first thing is this: In order to love your enemies, you must begin by analyzing self. And I’m sure that seems strange to you, that I start out telling you this morning that you love your enemies by beginning with a look at self. It seems to me that that is the first and foremost way to come to an adequate discovery to the how of this situation.

Now, I’m aware of the fact that some people will not like you, not because of something you have done to them, but they just won’t like you. I’m quite aware of that. Some people aren’t going to like the way you walk; some people aren’t going to like the way you talk. Some people aren’t going to like you because you can do your job better than they can do theirs. Some people aren’t going to like you because other people like you, and because you’re popular, and because you’re well-liked, they aren’t going to like you. Some people aren’t going to like you because your hair is a little shorter than theirs or your hair is a little longer than theirs. Some people aren’t going to like you because your skin is a little brighter than theirs; and others aren’t going to like you because your skin is a little darker than theirs. So that some people aren’t going to like you. They’re going to dislike you, not because of something that you’ve done to them, but because of various jealous reactions and other reactions that are so prevalent in human nature.

But after looking at these things and admitting these things, we must face the fact that an individual might dislike us because of something that we’ve done deep down in the past, some personality attribute that we possess, something that we’ve done deep down in the past and we’ve forgotten about it; but it was that something that aroused the hate response within the individual. That is why I say, begin with yourself. There might be something within you that arouses the tragic hate response in the other individual.

This is true in our international struggle. We look at the struggle, the ideological struggle between communism on the one hand and democracy on the other, and we see the struggle between America and Russia. Now certainly, we can never give our allegiance to the Russian way of life, to the communistic way of life, because communism is based on an ethical relativism and a metaphysical materialism that no Christian can accept. When we look at the methods of communism, a philosophy where somehow the end justifies the means, we cannot accept that because we believe as Christians that the end is pre-existent in the means. But in spite of all of the weaknesses and evils inherent in communism, we must at the same time see the weaknesses and evils within democracy.

Democracy is the greatest form of government to my mind that man has ever conceived, but the weakness is that we have never touched it. Isn’t it true that we have often taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes? Isn’t it true that we have often in our democracy trampled over individuals and races with the iron feet of oppression? Isn’t it true that through our Western powers we have perpetuated colonialism and imperialism? And all of these things must be taken under consideration as we look at Russia. We must face the fact that the rhythmic beat of the deep rumblings of discontent from Asia and Africa is at bottom a revolt against the imperialism and colonialism perpetuated by Western civilization all these many years. The success of communism in the world today is due to the failure of democracy to live up to the noble ideals and principles inherent in its system.

And this is what Jesus means when he said: "How is it that you can see the mote in your brother’s eye and not see the beam in your own eye?" Or to put it in Moffatt’s translation: "How is it that you see the splinter in your brother’s eye and fail to see the plank in your own eye?" And this is one of the tragedies of human nature. So we begin to love our enemies and love those persons that hate us whether in collective life or individual life by looking at ourselves.

A second thing that an individual must do in seeking to love his enemy is to discover the element of good in his enemy, and everytime you begin to hate that person and think of hating that person, realize that there is some good there and look at those good points which will over-balance the bad points.

I’ve said to you on many occasions that each of us is something of a schizophrenic personality. We’re split up and divided against ourselves. And there is something of a civil war going on within all of our lives. There is a recalcitrant South of our soul revolting against the North of our soul. And there is this continual struggle within the very structure of every individual life. There is something within all of us that causes us to cry out with Ovid, the Latin poet, "I see and approve the better things of life, but the evil things I do." There is something within all of us that causes us to cry out with Plato that the human personality is like a charioteer with two headstrong horses, each wanting to go in different directions. There is something within each of us that causes us to cry out with Goethe, "There is enough stuff in me to make both a gentleman and a rogue." There is something within each of us that causes us to cry out with Apostle Paul, "I see and approve the better things of life, but the evil things I do."

So somehow the "isness" of our present nature is out of harmony with the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts us. And this simply means this: That within the best of us, there is some evil, and within the worst of us, there is some good. When we come to see this, we take a different attitude toward individuals. The person who hates you most has some good in him; even the nation that hates you most has some good in it; even the race that hates you most has some good in it. And when you come to the point that you look in the face of every man and see deep down within him what religion calls "the image of God," you begin to love him in spite of. No matter what he does, you see God’s image there. There is an element of goodness that he can never sluff off. Discover the element of good in your enemy. And as you seek to hate him, find the center of goodness and place your attention there and you will take a new attitude.

Another way that you love your enemy is this: When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it. There will come a time, in many instances, when the person who hates you most, the person who has misused you most, the person who has gossiped about you most, the person who has spread false rumors about you most, there will come a time when you will have an opportunity to defeat that person. It might be in terms of a recommendation for a job; it might be in terms of helping that person to make some move in life. That’s the time you must do it. That is the meaning of love. In the final analysis, love is not this sentimental something that we talk about. It’s not merely an emotional something. Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.

The Greek language, as I’ve said so often before, is very powerful at this point. It comes to our aid beautifully in giving us the real meaning and depth of the whole philosophy of love. And I think it is quite apropos at this point, for you see the Greek language has three words for love, interestingly enough. It talks about love as eros. That’s one word for love. Eros is a sort of, aesthetic love. Plato talks about it a great deal in his dialogues, a sort of yearning of the soul for the realm of the gods. And it’s come to us to be a sort of romantic love, though it’s a beautiful love. Everybody has experienced eros in all of its beauty when you find some individual that is attractive to you and that you pour out all of your like and your love on that individual. That is eros, you see, and it’s a powerful, beautiful love that is given to us through all of the beauty of literature; we read about it.

Then the Greek language talks about philia, and that’s another type of love that’s also beautiful. It is a sort of intimate affection between personal friends. And this is the type of love that you have for those persons that you’re friendly with, your intimate friends, or people that you call on the telephone and you go by to have dinner with, and your roommate in college and that type of thing. It’s a sort of reciprocal love. On this level, you like a person because that person likes you. You love on this level, because you are loved. You love on this level, because there’s something about the person you love that is likeable to you. This too is a beautiful love. You can communicate with a person; you have certain things in common; you like to do things together. This is philia.

The Greek language comes out with another word for love. It is the word agape. And agape is more than eros; agape is more than philia; agape is something of the understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill for all men. It is a love that seeks nothing in return. It is an overflowing love; it’s what theologians would call the love of God working in the lives of men. And when you rise to love on this level, you begin to love men, not because they are likeable, but because God loves them. You look at every man, and you love him because you know God loves him. And he might be the worst person you’ve ever seen.

And this is what Jesus means, I think, in this very passage when he says, "Love your enemy." And it’s significant that he does not say, "Like your enemy." Like is a sentimental something, an affectionate something. There are a lot of people that I find it difficult to like. I don’t like what they do to me. I don’t like what they say about me and other people. I don’t like their attitudes. I don’t like some of the things they’re doing. I don’t like them. But Jesus says love them. And love is greater than like. Love is understanding, redemptive goodwill for all men, so that you love everybody, because God loves them. You refuse to do anything that will defeat an individual, because you have agape in your soul. And here you come to the point that you love the individual who does the evil deed, while hating the deed that the person does. This is what Jesus means when he says, "Love your enemy." This is the way to do it. When the opportunity presents itself when you can defeat your enemy, you must not do it.

Now for the few moments left, let us move from the practical how to the theoretical why. It’s not only necessary to know how to go about loving your enemies, but also to go down into the question of why we should love our enemies. I think the first reason that we should love our enemies, and I think this was at the very center of Jesus’ thinking, is this: that hate for hate only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. If I hit you and you hit me and I hit you back and you hit me back and go on, you see, that goes on ad infinitum. [tapping on pulpit] It just never ends. Somewhere somebody must have a little sense, and that’s the strong person. The strong person is the person who can cut off the chain of hate, the chain of evil. And that is the tragedy of hate, that it doesn’t cut it off. It only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. Somebody must have religion enough and morality enough to cut it off and inject within the very structure of the universe that strong and powerful element of love.

I think I mentioned before that sometime ago my brother and I were driving one evening to Chattanooga, Tennessee, from Atlanta. He was driving the car. And for some reason the drivers were very discourteous that night. They didn’t dim their lights; hardly any driver that passed by dimmed his lights. And I remember very vividly, my brother A. D. looked over and in a tone of anger said: "I know what I’m going to do. The next car that comes along here and refuses to dim the lights, I’m going to fail to dim mine and pour them on in all of their power." And I looked at him right quick and said: "Oh no, don’t do that. There’d be too much light on this highway, and it will end up in mutual destruction for all. Somebody got to have some sense on this highway."

Somebody must have sense enough to dim the lights, and that is the trouble, isn’t it? That as all of the civilizations of the world move up the highway of history, so many civilizations, having looked at other civilizations that refused to dim the lights, and they decided to refuse to dim theirs. And Toynbee tells that out of the twenty-two civilizations that have risen up, all but about seven have found themselves in the junkheap of destruction. It is because civilizations fail to have sense enough to dim the lights. And if somebody doesn’t have sense enough to turn on the dim and beautiful and powerful lights of love in this world, the whole of our civilization will be plunged into the abyss of destruction. And we will all end up destroyed because nobody had any sense on the highway of history. Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love.

There’s another reason why you should love your enemies, and that is because hate distorts the personality of the hater. We usually think of what hate does for the individual hated or the individuals hated or the groups hated. But it is even more tragic, it is even more ruinous and injurious to the individual who hates. You just begin hating somebody, and you will begin to do irrational things. You can’t see straight when you hate. You can’t walk straight when you hate. You can’t stand upright. Your vision is distorted. There is nothing more tragic than to see an individual whose heart is filled with hate. He comes to the point that he becomes a pathological case. For the person who hates, you can stand up and see a person and that person can be beautiful, and you will call them ugly. For the person who hates, the beautiful becomes ugly and the ugly becomes beautiful. For the person who hates, the good becomes bad and the bad becomes good. For the person who hates, the true becomes false and the false becomes true. That’s what hate does. You can’t see right. The symbol of objectivity is lost. Hate destroys the very structure of the personality of the hater. And this is why Jesus says hate [recording interrupted]

. . . that you want to be integrated with yourself, and the way to be integrated with yourself is be sure that you meet every situation of life with an abounding love. Never hate, because it ends up in tragic, neurotic responses. Psychologists and psychiatrists are telling us today that the more we hate, the more we develop guilt feelings and we begin to subconsciously repress or consciously suppress certain emotions, and they all stack up in our subconscious selves and make for tragic, neurotic responses. And may this not be the neuroses of many individuals as they confront life that that is an element of hate there. And modern psychology is calling on us now to love. But long before modern psychology came into being, the world’s greatest psychologist who walked around the hills of Galilee told us to love. He looked at men and said: "Love your enemies; don’t hate anybody." It’s not enough for us to hate your friends because—to to love your friends—because when you start hating anybody, it destroys the very center of your creative response to life and the universe; so love everybody. Hate at any point is a cancer that gnaws away at the very vital center of your life and your existence. It is like eroding acid that eats away the best and the objective center of your life. So Jesus says love, because hate destroys the hater as well as the hated.

Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. That’s why Jesus says, "Love your enemies." Because if you hate your enemies, you have no way to redeem and to transform your enemies. But if you love your enemies, you will discover that at the very root of love is the power of redemption. You just keep loving people and keep loving them, even though they’re mistreating you. Here’s the person who is a neighbor, and this person is doing something wrong to you and all of that. Just keep being friendly to that person. Keep loving them. Don’t do anything to embarrass them. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with bitterness because they’re mad because you love them like that. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.

I think of one of the best examples of this. We all remember the great president of this United States, Abraham Lincoln—these United States rather. You remember when Abraham Lincoln was running for president of the United States, there was a man who ran all around the country talking about Lincoln. He said a lot of bad things about Lincoln, a lot of unkind things. And sometimes he would get to the point that he would even talk about his looks, saying, "You don’t want a tall, lanky, ignorant man like this as the president of the United States." He went on and on and on and went around with that type of attitude and wrote about it. Finally, one day Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States. And if you read the great biography of Lincoln, if you read the great works about him, you will discover that as every president comes to the point, he came to the point of having to choose a Cabinet. And then came the time for him to choose a Secretary of War. He looked across the nation, and decided to choose a man by the name of Mr. Stanton. And when Abraham Lincoln stood around his advisors and mentioned this fact, they said to him: "Mr. Lincoln, are you a fool? Do you know what Mr. Stanton has been saying about you? Do you know what he has done, tried to do to you? Do you know that he has tried to defeat you on every hand? Do you know that, Mr. Lincoln? Did you read all of those derogatory statements that he made about you?" Abraham Lincoln stood before the advisors around him and said: "Oh yes, I know about it; I read about it; I’ve heard him myself. But after looking over the country, I find that he is the best man for the job."

Mr. Stanton did become Secretary of War, and a few months later, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. And if you go to Washington, you will discover that one of the greatest words or statements ever made by, about Abraham Lincoln was made about this man Stanton. And as Abraham Lincoln came to the end of his life, Stanton stood up and said: "Now he belongs to the ages." And he made a beautiful statement concerning the character and the stature of this man. If Abraham Lincoln had hated Stanton, if Abraham Lincoln had answered everything Stanton said, Abraham Lincoln would have not transformed and redeemed Stanton. Stanton would have gone to his grave hating Lincoln, and Lincoln would have gone to his grave hating Stanton. But through the power of love Abraham Lincoln was able to redeem Stanton.

That’s it. There is a power in love that our world has not discovered yet. Jesus discovered it centuries ago. Mahatma Gandhi of India discovered it a few years ago, but most men and most women never discover it. For they believe in hitting for hitting; they believe in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; they believe in hating for hating; but Jesus comes to us and says, "This isn’t the way."

And oh this morning, as I think of the fact that our world is in transition now. Our whole world is facing a revolution. Our nation is facing a revolution, our nation. One of the things that concerns me most is that in the midst of the revolution of the world and the midst of the revolution of this nation, that we will discover the meaning of Jesus’ words.

History unfortunately leaves some people oppressed and some people oppressors. And there are three ways that individuals who are oppressed can deal with their oppression. One of them is to rise up against their oppressors with physical violence and corroding hatred. But oh this isn’t the way. For the danger and the weakness of this method is its futility. Violence creates many more social problems than it solves. And I’ve said, in so many instances, that as the Negro, in particular, and colored peoples all over the world struggle for freedom, if they succumb to the temptation of using violence in their struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and our chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos. Violence isn’t the way.

Another way is to acquiesce and to give in, to resign yourself to the oppression. Some people do that. They discover the difficulties of the wilderness moving into the promised land, and they would rather go back to the despots of Egypt because it’s difficult to get in the promised land. And so they resign themselves to the fate of oppression; they somehow acquiesce to this thing. But that too isn’t the way because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.

But there is another way. And that is to organize mass non-violent resistance based on the principle of love. It seems to me that this is the only way as our eyes look to the future. As we look out across the years and across the generations, let us develop and move right here. We must discover the power of love, the power, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that we will be able to make of this old world a new world. We will be able to make men better. Love is the only way. Jesus discovered that.

Not only did Jesus discover it, even great military leaders discover that. One day as Napoleon came toward the end of his career and looked back across the years—the great Napoleon that at a very early age had all but conquered the world. He was not stopped until he became, till he moved out to the battle of Leipzig and then to Waterloo. But that same Napoleon one day stood back and looked across the years, and said: "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have built great empires. But upon what did they depend? They depended upon force. But long ago Jesus started an empire that depended on love, and even to this day millions will die for him."

Yes, I can see Jesus walking around the hills and the valleys of Palestine. And I can see him looking out at the Roman Empire with all of her fascinating and intricate military machinery. But in the midst of that, I can hear him saying: "I will not use this method. Neither will I hate the Roman Empire." [Radio Announcer:] (WRMA, Montgomery, Alabama. Due to the fact of the delay this morning, we are going over with the sermon.) [several words inaudible] . . . and just start marching.

And I’m proud to stand here in Dexter this morning and say that that army is still marching. It grew up from a group of eleven or twelve men to more than seven hundred million today. Because of the power and influence of the personality of this Christ, he was able to split history into a.d. and b.c. Because of his power, he was able to shake the hinges from the gates of the Roman Empire. And all around the world this morning, we can hear the glad echo of heaven ring:

Jesus shall reign wherever sun,

Does his successive journeys run;

His kingdom spreads from shore to shore,

Till moon shall wane and wax no more.

We can hear another chorus singing: "All hail the power of Jesus name!"

We can hear another chorus singing: "Hallelujah, hallelujah! He’s King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah, hallelujah!"

We can hear another choir singing:

In Christ there is no East or West.

In Him no North or South,

But one great Fellowship of Love

Throughout the whole wide world.

This is the only way.

And our civilization must discover that. Individuals must discover that as they deal with other individuals. There is a little tree planted on a little hill and on that tree hangs the most influential character that ever came in this world. But never feel that that tree is a meaningless drama that took place on the stages of history. Oh no, it is a telescope through which we look out into the long vista of eternity, and see the love of God breaking forth into time. It is an eternal reminder to a power-drunk generation that love is the only way. It is an eternal reminder to a generation depending on nuclear and atomic energy, a generation depending on physical violence, that love is the only creative, redemptive, transforming power in the universe.

So this morning, as I look into your eyes, and into the eyes of all of my brothers in Alabama and all over America and over the world, I say to you, "I love you. I would rather die than hate you." And I’m foolish enough to believe that through the power of this love somewhere, men of the most recalcitrant bent will be transformed. And then we will be in God’s kingdom. We will be able to matriculate into the university of eternal life because we had the power to love our enemies, to bless those persons that cursed us, to even decide to be good to those persons who hated us, and we even prayed for those persons who despitefully used us.

Oh God, help us in our lives and in all of our attitudes, to work out this controlling force of love, this controlling power that can solve every problem that we confront in all areas. Oh, we talk about politics; we talk about the problems facing our atomic civilization. Grant that all men will come together and discover that as we solve the crisis and solve these problems—the international problems, the problems of atomic energy, the problems of nuclear energy, and yes, even the race problem—let us join together in a great fellowship of love and bow down at the feet of Jesus. Give us this strong determination. In the name and spirit of this Christ, we pray. Amen.



Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, on 17 November 1957. MLKEC.
 
Christine So
Eng 201B

Martin Luther King says, "We begin to love our enemies and love those persons that hate us whether in collective life or individual life by looking at ourselves"(4). It is very difficult to love those who wish bad upon you. He also says you have to look at the good things about your enemies so that it balances out with the bad. I, personally could never see myself loving my enemies. I believe Obama is doing the same as Martin Luther King because he's not here to pass judgment but is here to make a change in our society for the better.
 
Treana Penn
English 201B
M/W 10-12

Love Your Enemies

Martin Luther King Jr says, "this command is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. Yes, it is love that will save our world and our civilization, love even for enemies." (1). I feel love is a struggle, especially when it comes to loving an enemy or enemies. In this essay, Martin Luther King explains, love is an important factor of live to make it through this world. King feels that we must love our enemies, because we are all God's children. So that same person who could possibly be an enemy, could also possibly be God's child, too. His blueprint to loving an enemy may seem difficult to understand, but it is to " Love yourself". By looking at everything your enemy may dislike you for and find the beauty of it that is inside yourself. I think that President Barack Obama lives by Martin Luther Kings sermons and words. Because, he has lived King's speech of change, by becoming the first African American President. As Obama quotes, ""There's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there is the United States of America. There's not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America; there is the United States of America," (Obama, 2004) showing his love for everyone and not discriminating as an enemy would do.
 
“Love Your Enemies”
Martin Luther King said that we must love our enemies because it can change the way how our enemies look at us. “…love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you…” (1). I think this quote talks about if you learn to love your enemies, they will feel that you don’t hurt them like how they hurt you. Your enemies might change their mind on how they treat you because you have shown them what is the meaning of love and caring for others. By showing your love, we can save and change the world. Before loving your enemies, you have to analysis yourself on what makes you different from others. Some people won’t like you because of you, not because of something you had done to them that made them dislike you. Martin Luther King had also mention that balancing their bad for their goods is a way to make them feel loved. In Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama, he said that “My powers of empathy, my ability to reach into another’s heart, cannot penetrate the blank stars of those who would murder innocents with abstract, serene satisfaction.” (x). As the President of the United States, President Barack Obama is doing the same thing as Martin Luther King; both are trying to change the society of how people are living and feeling about each other.

Kelley Yuen
English 201A MW 1-250 SPR09
 
Mandukhai Andaan/Maggie/
ENG 201B
M,W 1:250

Martin Luther King says, "Love your enemies" I would never love my enemies but in the other hand, you might have to think why are you hating on that person so much? Isn't that person better than you, or that person is just similar as you are..? Probably, that's where the hate came from. Loving your enemies might be a good thing, because you are hating on them and they have the thing that you have to hate. So why not look at that person who called your enemy, and start looking at hes/his good things. I think that's what Martin Luther King is saying about.
President Barrack Obama is definitely doing same as Martin Luther King; he's showing people a love and hoping for a change.
 
Whitney Felton
english 1A 8-9am

Dr. King states that it is the love of everyone, even our enemies that will save civilization. How can there be equality for all if the government was ran by the KKK? How would there be equal anything if there was only one party being represented? When Bush came into office, his efforts were towards making the rich richer and letting prosperity “trickle down to the lower class”. Now our economy is ruined and there is no such thing as the middle class. There is now only rich and barely making it. These are examples of not loving your enemies. Dr. King realized that in order to have a strong country, we need to have every one love and respect others. The term “patriot” does not exclude one race or the other so why should the word “decency“? By loving your enemies, and working with those who could be less than kind, Dr. king won the hearts of many people, both black and white, both politician and worker, both rich and poor. It is his ideals that we celebrate, and his courage that we honor, so why do we not love our enemies? Dr. King did admit that the task was hard, but if we admire him so much then we should have the strength to follow his footsteps.
Barack had to learn how to love his enemies. Unfortunately for him, his enemy was in himself. The unknowing, the uncertainty…What is he? Who is he? Black or White? African American or American? Barack or Barry? Obama must have had a problem with learning how to love both sides of his heritage without disregarding the other, and without losing himself. Obama writes, “That was the problem with people like Joyce. They talked about the richness of their multicultural heritage and it sounded real good, until you noticed that they avoided black people”. the quote expresses the fight between two cultures trying to express themselves inside of a person who does not know how to be themselves. The obvious question is who it that person? And the answer is this: you do not let the culture define you, you define the culture. As president, Barack has mastered the idea of both defining yourself and loving your enemies; no other Democrat has worked with as many republicans as he, not to mention the number of bills he has passed with the art of using common ground.
 
Sabah Said
2/15/09
English 201B
Mon/Wed 10-12

Response to Martin Luther King Essay

Martin Luther King essay, “Love your enemies”.

Martin L. King says we must love our enemies as ourselves. Because for instance people might not like me for a reason, or for no reason at all, they wouldn’t like me because of the way I walk, talk or it just might be jealousy. Martin L. King showed how we have to face the fact that a person could not like another person because of something they have done in the past, or how they have acted. Loving your enemies is not something done often because you have hatred against them, and its hard accepting it as if its love, when you think about the negativity more.

Obama does have some similarities to what martin L King is saying, because Obama is treating everyone equally even if there bad, good etc. He is showing everyone love and showing he cares, also as his position as president he still helps everyone and tries to make a difference to make changes for everybody to be happy. Martin L. King wanted everyone to be happy, Obama did also. They both want everyone to be equal and don’t leave anybody behind. They also want people to be treated equally.
 
Martin Luther King Jr. Says, “Love Your Enemies”

Reading the story “Love Your Enemies,” made me understand more clearly about the difficulties many of us face with the enemies we all have. We feel like we have to defend ourselves with the same attitude or actions that we are giving from the people who dislike us, because of whatever reason they have to feel that way. It is just like the saying, "Kill them with kindness", is another way of loving your enemies.
I agree with Martin Luther King Jr. and believe regardless what anyone says or does to you, love them, love them just as you would love yourself. Many of us sometimes let hate build up inside that it takes away so much of our joy and blessings that we have been giving , but can’t see to begin to realize the hatred made us unable to see any of this, because we became blind to even visualize what was in front of us all that time.
I feel that Martin Luther King Jr. was successful with this statement to a degree, meaning only to a few of us who followed and listened to him closely. I know that I am one of the people who knew of Martin Luther King Jr. and was aware of what he stood up for, but never have I read any of his preaches until I took this class. I am glad that I now have that chance to be able to learn of his preaches, because It makes a whole lot of sense.
The world we live in today needs more of us to love, rather than be so angry and hateful towards each other. Stop worrying about what the next person has and appreciate what you do have, regardless if it was meant for you or felt belonged to you. How can anyone enjoy life being so angry or someone’s enemy? I believe that our New President is trying to give us all the same message, in his words. Our President would like us all to love one another and give up on loving just our color. Yes, it is time for us to begin to love one another, and start with loving our enemies.
 
Lauryn Helling
Eng 210B MW 1-250 SPR09
"Yes, it is love that will save our world and our civilization, love even for enemies." (paragraph4). For some, loving someone who has said bad things to you, or who has done unforgivable things to you, finds it very challenging to look at that person let alone love that person. But i believe that what MLK is trying to convey here is that love conquers all. It can be an intimate love between two individuals or it can be the love one should always have for an enemy. Hate does not make the world go and round, and frankly neither does love but love definitely overpowers hate on many other levels. The end result of loving someone can only be spreading more love to others. I don't believe there is something negative that can come out of loving an enemy. I also believe that President Obama follows MLKs' word. Seeing how he is the first African-American president, he doesn't see color, or gender, or orientation. He had a portion of America running against him just because of his race. And realizing that he got past that racial stipulation, and won over more than half of the country should say something not only about faith but about love. King and Obama are one in the same to me. I believe they have the same dreams and are willing to make those dreams into reality by any means necessary.
 
Response to “Love Your Enemies” by Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King said “it is love that will save our world and our civilization, love even for enemies.” Hate changes a person’s personalities. Before you can love your enemies, you must first analyze yourself then seek the element of good in your enemies. Honestly, I don’t think this is even possible. At least not for everyone in the world. For example: if someone killed the people you love most in your life, why would you love your enemy? How and where do you seek forgiveness for such actions? I would seek for revenge. Both Obama and Martin Luther King are doing things similar. They are seeking to change the world for the better. They will always be idols and become a big part of African American history.

Jacky Leung
English 201B, MW 1-2:50
 
Yeju Munankarmi
English 201A MW(1:00-2:50)
Wanda Sabir
Martin Luter king shows the unconditional love towards black people and the nation. His love is also called agape. He has fought with the whole nation for the sake of his brothers and sisters. Here his brother and sisters are all the black people who are going through the tought time.They were slaves. White people invest their money on them, they buy them jus as an animal. And Martin Luter king wanted to remove all these. He talks about the love given by god and walk the way which god has shown to us. But he is not againts the white pople. What happens if a mother answers her daugther for not letting her to play in the nice playing park? She definitly thinks bad about Whites. But Martin Luter king teaches to love our enimy. He says,"We begin to love our enemies and love those persons that hate us whether in collective life or individual life by looking at ourselves"(4)`No matter who is standing infront of us, just we have to do best from ourside. Thus, Martin Luter King teaches us to love our enemy. But the world has moved a lot towards development. Today, US has a black president and everybody is hoping that he will make USA better than before. He has came as a new hope. He is ready to work for the nation with the same love as Martin Luter king does. He also has agapy towards his nation. He too promises to end the war and love the enimies. This is the similarity between both of the heros.
(My internate at home was not working so I had to post today. Sorry for the late post.)
 
Carmen Truong
Professor Sabir
English 1A
9:9:50

Martin Luther King uses love in a unique way by saying that we should love our enemies. Because more often we usually state love with a feeling towards our love ones. Martin Luther King mentioned love as jealousy. People like to hate on other people just normally as we can call it human nature. No one is perfect. Martin Luther king says, “I’m aware of the fact that some people will not like you, not because of something you have done to them, but they just wont like you. I’m quite aware of that. Some people aren’t going to like the way you walk; some people aren’t going to like the way you talk. Some people aren’t going to like you because you can do your job better than they can do theirs.” We may hate on other people just because the way they are, but keep in mind that the imperfect of us can be change. Martin Luther King also mentioned that people may hate on us due to many negatives in us, why don’t we take a look at ourselves and see what we need to change? Martin Luther King is a loving person, and he wants his people to love each other.

Martin Luther King has change a huge impact on the society. Without Martin Luther King, our truly Barack Obama would not appear to be the U.S President. Yet through all the hard work that was given, both Martin Luther King and Barack Obama has been so successful. They are similar in their skin type also stood up and fought for what they believe in.
 
Adries Ahmed
Eng 201A
The essay loving yoour enemys conveys a message reprogaming brutal interactions. The book dreams from my father is similar, after obama analysis his father past experience,and the storys he found was only misleading him. A way of showing love to your enemys is to help a person who sees failer and you choose not to have advantge of defeat . It is the best way of loving your enemys. Mlk say's"that hate for hate only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe" Mlk means that violence isn't the solution, and the person who prevents haterd is the stronger.
 
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