By Isabella Kakish
Junior Fellow
In this day and age, I feel that many of us are very stagnant. We wake up, go to school or work, make the drive home, finish out our daily routine, and then complete the same process the next day. Wash, rinse, repeat over and over. As if we are helpless to the monotony that plagues our society.
Many complain about injustices, speaking to colleagues or classmates about what we wish was different in the world, yet we then carry on with our daily routines, forgetting what we are passionate about, thinking only in terms of dreams rather than firm goals that we can accomplish.
There are few in society that are doers, those that act on what they are passionate about instead of just speaking and wishing that they could make a change. Martin Luther King Jr., defied the odds of routine that most of us blindly accept. He was the textbook definition of a doer, and his legacy stands to show the impact that following your passion has on the world.
From a young age, I was always intrigued by MLK’s story and how his name rings as one of the most influential people of all time. His nonviolent approach to civil rights struck me deeply, even before I truly understood what this meant.
Even from the age of five I was able to recognize the passion in his voice during his speeches and the way those speeches moved those who heard them. He inspired people around him to become more than just cogs in the wheel of society, by rousing passion for change in those who listen to him speak.
His quote, “ Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals”, highlights the idea in order to truly make a change in society, we need to change our perspective that someone else will fix the problem. We all can be equipped to follow our passions and stand up for what is right, we often just need a push.
As someone who wants to break the cycle of stagnation and become a person that stands up for what I believe in, Martin Luther King Jr., represents the pinnacle of inspiration and achievement. I will always look up to him for his courage in the face of adversity and his perseverance when someone else might have turned over and gave up. I can only hope that I might mirror even half of his strength in my journey to fight for my passions and make my goals a reality. I want to be a doer, and no one did more than the King himself.
Isabella Kakish is a Junior Fellow at The PuLSE Institute
