Raeo Passey's letter (Forum, Jan. 16) demands a reply. Two of his main points, which are passed off as self-evident truths, need to be answered:
1. "Morality cannot be compartmentalized." Perhaps this is true as it related to an introspective examination of our own personal lives, but it is certainly not true as it relates to how we should view others.The "Good Book" is replete with, "Judge not, that ye be not judged," "Love one another," "Forgive your enemies," etc. We should look for the good in others and admire and praise all good works, even though they are done by flawed humans. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" should be our watchword.
Benjamin Franklin is a justly revered patriot and great soul. He was also a womanizer of the first order. Thomas Jefferson is a man whose accomplishments I greatly admire. However, he owned slaves and very likely sired a child by one of his slaves.
Just as those great men are held in high esteem by most Americans in spite of their flaws, I choose to admire Martin Luther King for his magnificent contribution to his country. I will not judge him for his alleged faults.
The truth of King's accomplishments are there for all who have eyes to see. It was he who, in a nonviolent way, forced the nation to behold its sins of hate, racism and prejudice. It was he who, peacefully, without malice, risked his life daily that all people might be free of the bitter shackles that still fetter our nation 130 years after we fought a war to end slavery.
He, very likely, saved this nation from a racial war from which it could never have recovered. In the end, he paid the ultimate price and sealed his righteous cause with his blood.
2. While it saddens me to witness the depravity of sexual immorality in our nation, a better case can be made that the "prime cause of all the social problems in this country" is the immorality of man's inhumanity towards his fellow humans. This so happens to be the very social ill that Martin Luther King gave his life to remedy.
Has Mr. Passey, and those who think as he does, honestly read or listened to Dr. King's "I Have a Dream"? If he had, he could not have trivialized and sullied those noble, Christian ideals with his lewd suggestion.
For the record, I have a dream. I dream of a day when all of us look deep in the secret recesses of our own hearts, come to recognize the hate and ignorance stored there, and rip it out as we would a cancer.
Call the holiday what you will. To me it is and always will be Martin Luther King Day. His name is synonymous with civil rights in this country.
Leonard Carson
Midvale