Something I still can't quite identify.

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I have always taken a long time to process my thoughts. I have been working on this blog post since Monday, so I am at somewhat of a distance from the feelings and events I discuss. Many of my ideas here are still not fully formed, and I will likely need to reflect on them a lot more before they become so, but bear with me.

There are few aspects of Martin Luther King’s legacy that have not yet been addressed in writing. I do not feel that, after a day spent exploring the epicenter of his life, I have any unique perspective to add to that dialogue. What I became aware of, as I observed a service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, visited his childhood home, and listened to Andrew Young speak on politics, is the sheer breadth and potency of his impact. Dr. King’s legacy hung over those experiences like a shadow, or perhaps filled them like water. I’m still looking for the right simile. His soul, whatever that may mean, rested in each of the places and people we visited. It seems to have detached from the man himself and become an object, fluid and significant, of its own. I don’t have much to say about the impact of Martin Luther King that hasn’t been said before, but today I saw something that is broader than King’s personal impact. Something that was once a part of the man, but has long been separated from him, and set forth freely into the world. Perhaps that something is as simple and concrete as the continuation of his work and the perpetuation of his ideas. Perhaps that something is the combined impact he has had on those around him. I think it’s something more significant than that. I’ve heard that when someone dies they leave a hole in the universe their exact size and shape. I don’t believe that happened to Dr. King. Whatever the presence is that I have felt on so many stops of this trip seem, to me to have filled the place once occupied by Dr. King himself. I don’t think its metaphysical, but I also don’t think it’s anything as straightforward as his legacy and his personal impact. Perhaps it’s something in between, or some combination of the two, or something else entirely. I don’t know, but I do know that while the King has long been dead, something that was once an aspect of him did not leave with him.

-Liam

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