Tuesday, February 16, 2010

 
Read the following essay. We will discuss it on Wednesday in class in a freewrite.

Love Your Enemies Cyber-Post
This is our freewrite Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010

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

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

Use three in-text citations(quotes and paraphrases), one per paragraph. Use a signal phrase, that is, introduce the speaker. For example: Martin Luther King says..."QUOTE" (page number)PUNCTUATION.


Martin Luther King's Sermon: "Love Your Enemy"

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.

Comments:
Rick Myers
Professor Sabir
English 201B – 1 – 2:50pm
17 February 2010
Thoughts on “Love Your Enemy” By MLK
There are certain philosophical truths that hold consistent, or are timeless if you will. It’s about being part of a higher consciousness and morality. Dr. King discusses one of these in detail during the sermon on loving your enemy. I think he initially wants us to do a little internal soul searching though. He preaches that we must first become self-aware. To quote Dr. King, “I think the first thing is this: In order to love your enemies, you must begin by analyzing self.” Yes, we need to be aware of how our actions, outlook, as well as visual appearance’s affect others within the world. Humility is something we need not strive for, but make a part of ourselves. When we understand this, we will begin the cognitive process of looking at life, people and how they interact with each other. In a word, we will begin to understand the meaning of tolerance.

Dr. King not only understands and lives by these concepts, (as much as humanly possible) but he also discusses a few ideas or paths if you will of how the individual can bring these ideas to bear in life. One of these, which is a personal favorite of mine from the text is actually from Goethe, "There is enough stuff in me to make both a gentleman and a rogue." Dr. King discusses the concept of looking at the positive parts of individuals that you do not like. Don’t just see the negative in people. The only way to overcome the emotion of hatred towards an individual is to become aware of the good in them as well. Basically, to see the positive in the negative.
 
Luis Arechiga
Professor Sabir
English 201B 1-2:50pm
17 February 2010


In Dr.Martin Luther King’s preaching that he gave at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama; truly reached out to me, and gave me so much thought in the way the world use to be in one point. It’s hard to believe that there was so much hate, and so much judgement based on the ethnicity of one’s self, and the color of their skin. It’s true that there is still racism in the world today, but the world has changed drastically compared to the world during Martin Luther King’s era. Today , we have a African American in office as President of The United States, and that is something that could have never been imagined during those past times.
Martin Luther King’s words were his weapon of choice, he knew that violence and retaliation was not the answer to gain respect and love from a society that was treating him so cruel. “Love thy enemy,” such hard words left upon by Jesus himself; yet, something that should be practiced by the whole world. I belive that if we love our enemies as we do ourselfs, it will make the world a peaceful place to live in.
Martin Luther King was succesful in showing everyone how easy it is to hate someone, but how hard it is to love another. These words are truly insperational, something that must be heard and felt by everyone. Because the world is changing at a fast pace, and the world will go towards wherever we direct it.
 
Darrius Sutton
Professor Sabir
English 201A
17 February 2010
Martin Luther King
I feel that at times it may be very hard to love your enemy, but to feel complete you have to do that. It would be harder for your enemy to hate you when you show them nothing but love and compassion. This will make you a better person and make the world a better place. Think if now everyone loved their enemy, the number of enemies that people have would greatly decrease. Because at the end of the day we are all children of god. Like Martin Luther King said, “…that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven."(para. 3)
I just believe that some people are not going to like you for whatever reason. There are just people like that. It is your moral responsibility to treat them with love and care. They may not like you for the things that you do and have. A lot of people dislike you because you have something that they will never posses. At the end of the day I guess it’s just human nature. Martin Luther King said, “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.” (para. 7)
The love that you give or show to your enemies will make the world a better place to live in. Our society would not look good as a whole if everyone went around hating people for the things that they did not have. We could accomplish more if the people that you envied, helped you accomplish what it is that you want. We need to better our selves but it starts by bettering others first. As Martin Luther King said,” 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.”(para. 22)
 
This speach was called "Love Your Enemy," by Martin Luther King.He believed that we should love everyone no matter how bad a person we thaught they were.:Martin Luther King said..."love your enemies,bless them that curse you,do good to them that hate yo,and pray for them that despitefully use you;that ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven."


In his opinion there are many definitions of love. He used some Greek terminalogy defining the word "Love." For example Eros which is an aesthetic love,Plato a romantic love,Philia an intamit affiction between personal friends,and Agape a love that seeks nothing in return. He also reffers to the bible when Jesus :says..."Love your enemy". Because he was'nt just talking about liking your enemy but spucificly loving them.


Reading this speach and seeing his opinions on love can help others become a better person, because he touched on subjects and examples everyone can relate to.




Alicia Candies
201 english m/w 1/3
 
THIS IS A REPOST - INITIAL POST WAS INCOMPLETE

Rick Myers
Professor Sabir
English 201B – 1 – 2:50pm
17 February 2010

Thoughts on “Love Your Enemy” By MLK

There are certain philosophical truths that hold consistent, or are timeless if you will. It’s about being part of a higher consciousness and morality. Dr. King discusses one of these in detail during the sermon on loving your enemy. I think he initially wants us to do a little internal soul searching though. He preaches that we must first become self-aware. To quote Dr. King, “I think the first thing is this: In order to love your enemies, you must begin by analyzing self.” Yes, we need to be aware of how our actions, outlook, as well as visual appearance’s affect others within the world. Humility is something we need not strive for, and make a part of ourselves. When we understand this, we will begin the cognitive process of looking at life, people and how they interact with each other. People say we are our own worst critics, and Dr. King intimates this as well. In a word, we will begin to understand the meaning of tolerance.
Although, Dr. King doesn’t really give any clear cut examples of this methodology working for him, it is clear to me that he practices it in his everyday life. This is clear to me simply based on how many examples he gives of the process of loving your enemy. Another example of his personal awareness is quoted in this, “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.” Obviously Dr. King has put his belief and faith on the line for the rest of us to see and hear.
Dr. King not only understands and lives by these concepts, (as much as humanly possible) but he also discusses a few ideas or paths if you will of how the individual can bring these ideas to bear in life. One of these, which is a personal favorite of mine from the text is actually from Goethe, "There is enough stuff in me to make both a gentleman and a rogue." Dr. King discusses the concept of looking at the positive parts of individuals that you do not like. Don’t just see the negative in people. The only way to overcome the emotion of hatred towards an individual is to become aware of the good in them as well. Basically, people need to see the positive in the negative.
 
Obada Natouf
Professor Sabir
English 201B
17 February 2010
MW 1-2:50 P.M.
Response to "love Your enemies"
In " Love Your enemy" by Dr. Martin Luther King, MLK explained why people should "love" everyone around them. Even your own enemies, a person must love his or her enemies because loving your enemies will make a person better, stronger and tougher. Whatever the situation is a person must love their surroundings in order to be happier. MLK emphasized that point by saying "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you" (par 3).
Martin Luther King believes that loving your enemies is not easy so he said "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." (par 4). So loving your enemies is not easy. He believes that we need to love our enemies like our selves because knowing your enemy would make a person fully developed. It helps a person be more peaceful.
Dr. Martin Luther King was really successful by loving his enemy he said" 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." So he followed it sense it was so easy for him to understand the philosophy of love. MLK propose that we should analyze ourselves than know our sense of morality and cut off our chain of hate.
 
Tracey Lee
201B 23075
MW 1-2.50pm

In Marin King’s essay he asserts “Love Your Enemies” , he described three degrees of love: eros or sexual love, philia or friendship, and agape a love for humankind. He further explained that most of us have experienced eros in romance, and philia in affiliation with others. Agape is the ideal and most challenging for one has to love unconditionally.

Preaching from the pulpit, King accentuated a biblical excerpt in the Gospel of Saint Matthew, “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.” (Page 1). He asserts that although it may be unrealistic, it is this distinct Christian and moral value that will save humankind, when we have understood and practiced it in our daily living. This agapae or unconditional love for humankind is highly regarded because it transcends oppression, hate and revenge. It is a personal choice to turn the other cheek when opportunity for revenge arises.

King reverted our attention to history to intensify his message of love. Great men such as Napoleon was to have said “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have built great empires. But long ago Jesus started an empire that depended on love, and even to this day millions will die for him.” In this example, King is suggesting that even Napoleon acknowledges that the suffering Christ through his exemplary of dying for sinners, has made love redemptive and transforming to a multitude of humankind.
 
Shyann Kinzer
201B
MW 10-1150

"Love Your Enemies"

In Martin Luther King's "Love you Enemies", he describes love and the different forms of love. One being friendship, sexual, and the love for humankind. He goes in describing the idea of one loving unconditionally, otherwise known as agape. I agree with King's idea that love is so important throughout ones life, especially to our enemies. By showing love to thoughs who do not have love for us gives us power. Instead of letting it bother us, we pay no attention to it so its easier to move forward.

While going in depth about the love to our enemies King uses the example of Napoleon, "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have built empires, but long ago Jesus started an empire that depended on love, and even to this day millions will die for him." This quote gives a sense of agape, by Christ dying for the sins of the people. Though the people had sinned and disobeyed the wants of the christian religion, Jesus was crucified for them.This being positive, because mankind could continue living on a new sleight.

Grabbing the attention of the audience King says, "Love your enemy". One starts to think. Love your enemy? Why love someone who is not good to you? Its about being superior, being the bigger person. If one can walk away from a situation with a positive aspect, then that person succeeded. One can only do that if they are not in a negative mind set. In order to do this i feel that the individual has to be comfortable with them self, and know who they are. It takes a strong person to be so positive in a negative atmosphere.King preaches this so that we are more conscious of our actions and how they affect others in our society. I think it works, though it is easier to say than do.
 
Louza, Tasha
Professor Sabir
English 201A MW 10-11:50
February 18

Response to “Love our Enemies”

In love our Enemies Martin King, preach on one command Love your enemies as yourselves. Martin King said first. “In order to love your enemies, you must begin by analyzing yourself”. That statement, made the most since to me, because when people say they hate a person sometimes that person have something or someone they want. In order to love anybody, you have to start with self, love is deep, and if you don’t love yourself, how would you love anybody else. Even your enemies, starting with self, can be one way we can start loving our enemies.

Why does king say love our enemies as ourselves. Love, is a positive way to avoid negative things. Martin King said, If we shoe love to our enemies that might change our enemy feeling towards., Love, can bring the good of people saying we love someone mean we really care in don’t want no rumor toward them. By showing anybody , that we care about them change people hatred or violence toword one another.

Was he always successful at this? Will from what I know about Marin King, he has said “you meet every situation of life with an abounding love”. So, he was saying, you can control how you feel toward anybody you can choose to hate them or love them. Every situation you can control you have negative thought or positive. But he said every situation with love.
 
Neil Chu
Professor Sabir
English 201A MW 10-11:50



Love our enemies


In Martin Luther king’s preach, “love our enemies” the theme is we must love everyone as ourselves. Martin Luther King said..."love your enemies,bless them that curse you,do good to them that hate yo,and pray for them that despitefully use you;that ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven." From this King believes that there will be no room for hate, so there will only be love.

In king’s view with everyone loving there would be no hate. He uses passages from the bible to show what love really is. “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.” This shows us that we need to love everyone because we are all form the same source.

King’s view on love is quite unique. He tells us to do the opposite of what our enemies do. For example bless them as they curse you. We can all be better people if we all follow these examples on how to love.
 
Khan Ly
Professor Sabir
English 201B MW 1:00-2:50pm
17 February 2010

In “Love Your Enemy”, King had stated that, “….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.” Base on the statement, King wanted to persuade other people to love their enemies as themselves. Because in this world, everyone have someone to which they hate and did not want to socialize with. But if people hate each other the world will become a messy place and no one can live a happy life. If people can let go of the hate and love their enemies, then they can find peace and happiness in their life.

In King preaching, he introduced us to three types of love in Greece language. First is the word eros, which is considering a romantic love. The second word that King maintains is philia. Philia is an affection love, which deal with friendships. The last one is agape, which is a love that seeks nothing in return. When King said, “And agape is more than eros; agape is more than philia; agape is something of the understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill for all men.” In this statement King points out that agape is the type of love that is more above eros and philia, because it is the most difficult thing to do in the world. In this world everyone show their love to other in hope of gaining something in return. So it’s really hard for someone to show their love to other and want nothing in return. If everyone can give out something and want nothing in return, then the world will become a peaceful place.

King understands that it is hard for other to love their enemies. And this idea show when King said, “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.” Since it is hard to forgive those who have been hurting you, it becomes more difficult to love them. But if people can manage to control their emotional then it is really easy to love their enemies.
 
Abtisam kaaid
Professor sabir
English 1a
Love Your Enemies
Martin Luther King suggest that we love our enemies as ourselves. King says, “I think the first thing is this: In order to love your enemies, you must begin by analyzing self.” (para. 5). We are all one in the same and if you love yourself you can look deep inside someone and not only see the negative but the positive as well. At times it may be very hard to love your enemy, but to make yourself confident in feeling that you are a good person you must do so. It would be harder for your enemy to hate you when you show them nothing but love. This makes you a better person by being an example which will influence people to do the same.

In Kings sermon, there’s three types of love he talks about: eros, philis and agape. He explained that most of us have experienced eros which is in romance, and philia in affiliation with others. Agape is the ideal and most challenging for one has to love unconditionally. Personally I don’t know anyone with agape, but its nice to try. King says “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.”(para. 15) Agape simply means love a person as god loves them; don’t judge by appearances. Jesus says that there will come a point in you life that you love an individual that does the evil deed, while hating the deed that person does.

In many ways I thing that King was successful with his Sermon, but how hard it is to love another, these words are truly inspirational, something that must be heard and felt by everyone. Just reading this Sermon is inspirational and will make people think twice before [tapping on pulpit] It just never ends. Hate is very exhausting so why not love. He touches on this subject and gives some real examples that many people can relate too. Hate can spread like a cancer, you should never hate because its going to end up in a tragic. King says, “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.”(para.23) We are all gods children; and should treat each other with love and respect for we are all sisters and brothers. So here’s what I say to you love your enemy as much as you hate them love your enemy and they will have no choice but to love you in return!
 
Melvin Peter Herring
Professor Sabir
English 201b 10-11:50
February 17 2010

"love your Enemy"
after reading "Love your Enemy" by dr Martin L King I started to think alot about what was said in his sermon.Martin Luther King says " 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." which to me is very deep because he telling you to show love to someone that may not like you. it takes a big person to love everyone. alot of things are going on in this world today like the attack on terror or going to war and i find it hard not to hate someone. Martin says " Yes, it is love that will save our world and our civilization, love even for enemies." to me that makes alot of sense beacuse in order to make our world a better place we have to love each other.

As i read this i couldnt help but to think how can we love our Enemies.this may be a problem that everyone has and dont know how to handle that. Martin says "I think the first thing is this: In order to love your enemies, you must begin by analyzing self" i was not to sure of what me was tring to say.I think he wanted to say something like just be you you cant change that but you can show people there more to you then what they think.

Dr king said "When the opportunity presents itself when you can defeat your enemy, you must not do it." thats something i haved mixed feelings on because to me if you dont defeat your enemy he might try to defeat you. Or maybe Dr. King is right, you just gotta show your enemy love. love is a very powerfull feeling and maybe theres just the right amount of power in it to turn hate into love. So maybe Dr. King had it right you gotta love ur enemy to make a change. Dr. King loved all his enemies and even if he did die he has left an impact on all our lives.
 
Monique West
Professor Sabir
English 201B MW 1-2:50pm
February 21, 2010

King says that we must love our enemies as ourselves because love has been
proven to have redemptive power within it. That power on its on is strong enough
to change people eventually. As King said, "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" (Pg 6). We must love our enemies because hate not only effects the hater, but all people.
This is proven when King says, "... 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" (pg 5).

Martin Luther King is successful at telling us why it is best to love our enemies. The Abraham Lincoln example that King used, had the biggest influence on me and is why I'm so inspired to love my enemies even more. King told the story of how Mr. Stanton ran around the country saying bad things about Lincoln's character and appearance during the time Lincoln was running for president of the United States. King told of how Lincoln became president and
made Stanton Secretary of War because he was the "best man for the job" (pg 7). Months later, after Lincoln was assassinated, Stanton was willing to stand up and say, "Now he belongs to the ages" (pg 7). This proves that with Lincoln's outpouring love, he gained Stantons respect.

Love our enemies we must begin to analyze ourselves. We also need to come to an understanding that even people with the worst intentions have some sense of good in them. Some call it finding "the image of God" in everyone and building energy off of that rather than the negative. Another way to love your enemies is to resist defeating them when given the chance. Take no actions to embarrass them.
Instead, pray for them. King sums this all up when he says, "... 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."
 
Sareth Chhoth
Professor Sabir
English 201A MW 10-12
17 February 2010

In the sermon “Love Your Enemy” by Martin Luther King, he tries to persuade us to love our enemy even though they have done wrong to you. Martin Luther King took this out of the bible but changed it. The quote that he took out was “Thou shall love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.” Instead of hate thine enemy, he change it to love your enemy.
Martin Luther King states, “ And over the centuries, many persons have argued that this is an extremely difficult command.” I would have to agree with the people who said that is something hard to do. We were never taught to love your enemy, so what he is saying is completely different. I have never met a person who loves their enemy.
Martin Luther King says, “How do you go about loving your enemies?” That is the main question that we all would have if we were told to love our enemies. Martin Luther King said that we have to look at ourselves to love our enemies. I do not understand this at all. That sounds like something complicated.
Martin Luther King writes, “A second thing that an individual must do in seeking to love his enemy is to discover the element of good in his enemy.” I think that what Martin Luther King is saying is true. Finding good in your enemy is something hard to do. Personally, I would not try to find good in my enemy if I had any. Truthfully we should try to find good in our enemy so that we do not hate them.
Martin Luther King’s sermon “Love Your Enemy” is convincing people to love your enemy by following some advices he suggests. The advices are trying to find some good in your enemy and looking at yourself to discover why that person might hate you.
 
Sandy Saeteun
Professor Sabir
English 201 B MW 10-11:50
21 February 2010

“Loving your enemies,” by MLK is about not hating the person the person that dislikes you. I think King is saying that your enemies do not like you for a reason, like the way you look or the you act. He says that people look at themselves and see things that they don’t like about themselves and when they see something about you that they like, the hate on you. King is quoted as saying, “how could you see the mote in your brother’s eyes and not see the beam in your own eyes.” By this he means that, you can see a flaw in someone else because you can not love yourself. So people hate because of insecurities and things that they been through.

What King means by loving your enemies is that when people dislikes you, it is because they envy something that you have. This is often because they can not have something that you have. Also by loving your enemies, it is much more powerful than using violence to solve it. Here King is quoted as saying, “Love is the only way. Jesus discovered that.” By this he means that love can solve anything and Jesus uses it too, so you should do the same. love is strong and something that is powerful.

I think that MLK was successful in this. He lead the civil right movement with love instead of violence and by this he shows that love is a powerful thing and people will soon join it as well. “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." This means that regardless of what have done to you, you should love them no matter what and that should be the best way to fight back.
 
William Le
English 201B MW 10-1150
21 February 2010
Thoughts on "Love Your Enemy" by MLK
Dr King main objective of writing Love your enemy is to enlighten everyone that holding hatred will only make yourself and others miserable. He want us to looking beyond what we dont usually see in our everyday life and give yourself and others a chance. Loving your enemy as Dr King stated is about the act of forgiving.Dr King said "He realized that it’s difficult to love those persons who seek to defeat you" and hes right. We cant love the ones that we see try to harm us or damage our life in anyway. It is understandable to see that, that is foolish to love the one that harm you, but it does not mean you have to hate someone forever. Loving your enemy is like giving yourself a chance to forgive and forget the grudges that you and your enemy hold all along.
Dr King suggested that it is not easy to love your enemy but if you actually try to do so you should like Dr King says "in seeking to love his enemy is to discover the element of good in his enemy". Try to find a good point about the enemy so it'll be easier on you to forgive. If all you could think about your enemy is your hatred toward their bad side and nothing else, then there is possibly no chance you could overcome this hatred. Forgiving and loving enemy is a bliss and it should bring join to you once you are able to bring love instead of grudge into the world.
Dr King stated that "hate for hate only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe". He is speaking on behalf of everyone in existence on this earth. Everyone holds grudges with others at least once in their life time and that grudge will only lead to an evil and hatred universe. Dr King only wanted peace and as he stated above, loving each other will keep the evil out of our universe that we all share and live upon. We are all human and this is about the best reason why we should not hate each other but more of a love all perspective.
 
Rosecary Aguinaldo
Professor Sabir
English 101A M/W 10-11:50am
21 February 2010
Response to MLK “Love Your Enemies”


In Martin Luther King’s Sermon of “Love Your Enemy.” He preached that we as humans should love our enemies. Martin Luther King stated that in the bible our Lord and Master 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.” Within these words it means that even though we might hate people that do harm to us. We should still love and pray for them because we are all God’s children.

Martin Luther King understands that it is very difficult for someone to love their enemies. In King’s view “He realized that it’ difficult to love those who seek to defeat you, those persons who say evil things about you. He realized it was painfully hard.” I believe it is hard to love your enemy because in order for someone to know what love is one has to experience hate. It’s the only absence of something that is the opposite of what can be experience.

Martin Luther King mentioned three types of love in Greek language his sermon. Which are eros, philia, and agape. Eros, it is sort of an aesthetic love. It comes to be as a romantic love. Philia is a type of love that is intimate between personal friends. It’s a type of love that a person feels for a friend it’s sort of a reciprocal love. The third one is agape, it is more than eros and more than philia. Agape is greater than, it is something of understanding, creative, and it seeks nothing in return. He tells us that “Love is understanding, redemptive goodwill for all men, so that you love everybody, because God loves them.” In other words, in order for us to love our enemies, we must first begin to understand and analyze ourselves first in order for us to love our enemies. Because love only comes when we understand ourselves first before we understand and love others.
 
Sodchimeg Ulziiutas
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201A, M, W 10:00-11:50
17 February 2010
Martin Luther King “Love your enemy”
Today we read article by Martin Luther King “Love your enemy”. This article interesting and give me a lot to think. It shows author’s view of Love. He made the understanding of love richer with his new experiences and discovery.
Love is not only between man and woman and in the family. It has more wide meaning than we expect. Even we can love the person, who made bad things to you. That is interesting and it was new for me.
I liked the way can author defined the reasons why we how to love our enemies. After reading this article I can see real reason why I can love the people whom I do not like. It makes me feel just like open my eyes.
Thank you, it was good to know.
 
Adilene Velazquez
Professor Sabir
English 201A MW 10-12
28 February 2010

The speech “Love your Enemy,” by Dr. Martin Luther King, gives out a good message to all the people. It emphasizes one of the Greek words for love, agape. Agape is unconditional love towards everyone including our enemies. Dr. King says “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.” This is true; the first step towards loving our enemy is to do a self evaluation. We have to be aware of our own faults because we might be doing something that is not right without noticing.

Later in the speech, Dr. King states, “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 every time 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” When we meet a person, it is a lot easier to see their bad qualities rather than their good qualities, but Dr. King says that instead of remembering all the bad things we should focus in the god things. If we look closely, a person has a lot more positive qualities and only a few negative ones, so we should allow the positive to take over, and cover the bad ones. Once we begin to do that, we will begin to love our enemy.

This speech had a lot of inspiring words that we should all pay close attention to. Usually people are too selfish to think about others. Dr King says “for they believe in hitting for hitting; they believe in an eye for an eye; they believe in hating for hating.” That’s what most of the people believe in, and that’s the reason why there’s so much crime and hate. We should all change the way we think in order to make the world a better place.
 
Mo Dabashi
2/16/09
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“. Meaning he shouldn’t pay no mind or waste his time because its not going to get him no where if he keeps on arguing and fighting back, but the better thing to do is encourage the black to just don’t give up on what they believe in keep marching and going on strike to get their freedom. Loving your enemies is not what you usually sees going on, because you have hatred against them and you dislike them. and its hard accepting it as if its love, when you think about the negativity more.

Martin L. King is trying to say that you cant like another person because of something they have done in the past, or how they have acted. But you can be the bigger person and get over it. Peace and love is the safe way to go. Martin looks up to god, and know he will help him the right way. Martin is a successful person to the people and is a leader who has overcame a lot and is a brave. Martin L Kings says, “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.” what he’s trying to say is loving your enemy isn’t hard. He showed that anything could happen, they talked about how they should united as one and work together and have faith in their selves. He made loving his enemies apart of something he does on a daily basis it was apart of him.

Martin L. King stated, “be good to people who are bad to you“. I agree with him, he has a lot of tolerance for people that have mistreated him. He shows respects and he wants to receive respect as well. He thought about every person always has something good in them where its big or small. Martin made a difference for people freedoms. He sometimes risked his life for others, because no one is better then the other.
 
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