Don't get me wrong, inaugurations are very important; they represent our freedoms, they represent the power of democratic elections, and they represent the security and order of a peaceful transfer of power. This is all good, and I’m thankful for it.
But that stuff happens every four years.
We will continue to argue about politics and politicians for the next four years, and another four years after that, and so on. What makes today significant is that today a group of women who have voluntarily left their comfortable lives of American freedom have traveled across the globe, and are showing love, kindness, respect and dignity to another group of women who have no familiarity with any of the above concepts. Today, ladies who have known the gift of freedom are sharing it with ladies who have not known freedom, ladies who have been living in slavery.
Why? Because Freedom is not truly freedom until it is multiplied.
Freedom is not about celebrating the work, but finishing the work.
Freedom cannot long exist in a vacuum. Freedom that accepts any oppression is not worthy of itself. It is negligence.
Celebrating freedom is easy, and there is no hardship in talk about making a difference. It is easy to proclaim ourselves as a city on a hill. But while we sleep tonight, true Freedom quietly steps with boldness and determination into the darkest corners of the earth and shines the unbridled light of Justice one candle at a time.
Slavery is real. It exists today and is more widespread than most of us imagine. Yet Freedom is real, and continues to be the strongest weapon wielded against injustice.
Today is also significant in that it is Martin Luther King Day. Much can be said of this man who fought with the power of love to bring about equality and freedom. Most of us know his speech from 1963. To imagine the dream he spoke of is fulfilled while millions around our globe languish in slavery is dire foolishness.
In his momentous speech he declared that, “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.”
But 50 years later, the planet still is not free.
The moment continues to be urgent.
We have made progress in multiplying freedom, but we have so far to go. While we discuss the urgency of the moment, while we comfortably talk about making Justice a reality, while we witness the political process of freedom, brave soldiers have already embraced the cause and taken action.
Those soldiers, in this case, are women.
To start making a difference visit www.ijm.org
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