Sometime in Eternity, an idea dawned on humanity. That is, the idea that people could be empowered to change things on earth without recourse to violence or physical force. I'm not sure who first articulated this belief, but it comes to most of us by way of a man known in his time as Jesus of Nazareth, who came to be called Jesus Christ.
Jesus lived at a time when the Kingdom of Israel had been broken up and the Hebrews lived under the heavy oppressive thumb of the Roman empire, subject to numerous indignities at the hands of the Romans.
Advising his followers to "Turn the other cheek" and "Return good for evil" Jesus made it abundantly clear that his way was not one of wimpishness or submission to force, but a way of surviving persecution by avoiding hatred, bitterness, and fear while acting to bring about the "kingdom of God" where Earth would reflect Heaven. God himself would take the last step to end suffering and oppression and bring about Heaven on Earth if people would do their part.
Things didn't work out as Jesus had hoped. The "kingdom of God" had not grown and spread as Jesus had said it would. While people had listened to his words and praised his teaching, very few were willing to accept the discipline he called for.
In the end, he was arrested as a nuisance and a troublemaker. Even his disciples deserted him at this point. Silent before his judges, he went to the cross still hoping that people would be inspired by the power of his belief and that his willingness to die for it and would eventually bring about the kingdom of God.
Centuries later, a young Hindu named Mohandas K. Gandhi who was studying law in England picked up a Bible and read the teachings of Jesus. Gandhi, in his youth had been exposed to Christian teaching but had been disgusted by the contempt expressed by the missionaries for Hinduism. As a devout but liberal Hindu, Gandhi was, however, impressed with the ideas of Jesus, particularly the beatitudes. Later, he was to discover parallel teachings in his own faith.
Returning to India with a law degree, Gandhi found himself treated as a "coolie barrister", a second class citizen in his own country, even as a professional. Over a period of Years, Gandhi worked out a system of non-violent protest called "Satygraha", or "truth force" to fight the constant affronts to human dignity that the colonial British had inflicted for generations on the people of India.
Eventually, Gandhi became involved in the struggle for independence from Britain, and despite repeated abuse and periods of imprisonment, inspired his people to evict the British from India by simply refusing to accept the idea of Britain's right to rule over them and declining to pay taxes, buy British goods, or cooperate with an oppressive government.
Gandhi died about a year after India gained independence, the victim of assassination by a member if a fanatical Hindu cult that hated Gandhi for his willingness to cooperate with Muslims.
Some years later, a young black Baptist minister named Martin Luther King, Jr. spent a month in India studying the teachings and methods of Gandhi. King, the son and grandson of ministers, was not content to go through life as a "Negro preacher" any more than Gandhi had been satisfied to carve out a niche as a "coolie barrister".
King had, by this time already had experienced some success in fighting segregation and discrimination in the South. He had, by now led the Montgomery Bus boycott to a successful conclusion and had taken an active part in the "Freedom Riders" campaign that led to an end to segregation in interstate transportation.
Now, King was better able to incorporate Gandhi's vision and methods into his own dream of an America in which segregation and discrimination would at last be overcome. He continued his work until he, too died the victim of an assassin.
Although King never banished racial hatred from American life, his work began a process that has resulted in stripping it of respectability and denying racial injustice the power of law.
Many people today regard these men as gods, or at least saints. they are placed on pedestals and looked upon as people to be venerated, rather than studied and understood as human beings who followed a vision. This attitude began even while they were alive. Jesus was clearly uncomfortable with it.
Once, when someone addressed him as "Good Master", he replied, "Why do you call me good? Only God is good." Gandhi once remarked "People put my photograph on altars and place garlands of flowers around it, but they don't follow my advice."
These men were as human as the rest of us, complete with all the contradictions, follies, and moral blind spots we are all subject to.
Jesus, despite his compassion for the poor and downtrodden, had a mean streak. Once, when a poor foreign woman came to him asking for a healing for her daughter, he refereed to her as a "dog" and granted her wish only after she had abased herself before him. Despite the contempt Jesus expressed for prosperous, self-righteous Hebrews who held themselves above the common people, he was not immune to the attraction of people in power. Once when a Roman officer asked him for a similar healing for his servant, Jesus granted it gladly and praised the officer for his faith.
Gandhi had some serious sexual hang-ups that he inflicted on others. Plagued by guilt all his life over the fact that he had been occupied with having sex with his wife at the moment his father died, Gandhi decided at the age of 39 to be celibate the rest of his life because sex was evil. His wife was not consulted on this decision. Furthermore, he tried to insist that people in his organization also be celibate. And it got worse. In his later years,he took to having young teenage girls sleep next to him to test his resolution. He seems to have take no account of how this experience of being used to tempt an old man might have affected them.
King was, at times, lacking in personal integrity. It has come to light in recent years that large chunks of his papers as a graduate student were copied almost verbatim from the works of William Marshal Horton as well as several others, and a large part of his Ph.D.. thesis was copied from the thesis of Jack Boozer another graduate student at Boston University. Even many of his sermons and speeches were slightly modified versions of the works of others.
Sometimes the human flaws of these men are presented in an effort to discredit the work they did for humanity. I say that this makes no more sense that saying that the fact that Einstein was an inconsiderate husband and an irresponsible father invalidates his works in physics.
On the other hand, denying, rationalizing, and trying to explain away their flaws and elevating these men to superhuman status with attainments beyond the grasp of ordinary humans dishonors and ignores the truth they revealed and demonstrated to humanity.
Jesus, in the centuries since his death, has been elevated to the status of God. Much of what has been done in his name is actually the antithesis of what he taught and practiced. Wars have been waged, witches burned, and heretics torturtured in the name of the man who taught peace, compassion and mercy.
After Gandhi died, he was revered as a saint while the Indian government casually dismissed his teaching as no longer practical by raising the fifth largest army in the world and eventually joining the nuclear club.
Martin Luther King has been venerated since his death in 1968, but the mantra, "We Shall overcome" soon gave way to "Burn, baby, burn".
These men had a vision of how life could be, and when they were focused on that vision, they lit up the darkness inherent in the human condition so that things have not been the same since they came. This does not mean, however that they were not subject to the same weakness as other human beings or that they were never blinded by their own personal hang-ups as the rest of us are.
These men should be admired, but never worshipped, studied, but never deified, emulated for their virtues, and forgiven for their shortcomings. Perhaps if they could accomplish what they did despite their failings, we can aspire to great things in our own way despite ours.