The Daily Optimist
March 10  ·  Perspective

Why Did MLK Keep Quoting a Man Who Never Saw His Dream Come True?

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
— Martin Luther King Jr.
"Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution, " 1968

King borrowed this phrase from Theodore Parker, a 19th-century abolitionist who never saw slavery end. Parker wrote it as hope, not certainty. King repeated it as conviction.

That's the difference between optimism and wishful thinking. Wishful thinking wants things to get better without doing anything. Optimism commits to a direction , bending , even when the arc is long and you can't see the curve from where you're standing.

You can't always see the bend. But you can choose to be part of the bending.

Today's question: What are you doing that you might not see the results of in your lifetime , and are you doing it anyway?

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