Dear Dr. King: I am a ninth-grade student. While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I am a white girl. I read of your suffering and that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze.
Damian McBride (CAFOD Media Team): “On the 20th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination, we read his Mountaintop speech at school, from the night before he died. The whole speech is hugely inspiring and moving, but the part that affected me most was about a letter sent by a girl my age. Dr King recalled how he’d been stabbed 10 years previously, how the blade had nearly pierced his heart, and how he’d received hundreds of letters from the President and others wishing him well.
But he said the only one he remembered was from a young girl who wrote: “Dear Dr. King: I am a ninth-grade student. While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I am a white girl. I read of your suffering and that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I’m simply writing you to say that I’m so happy that you didn’t sneeze.” That speech brought everything together in my mind about poverty, social justice, campaigning and faith, but more than anything, it made me realise even someone my age could make a difference, just through something as simple as sending a letter. “
As we mark our 50th anniversary at CAFOD, it is time to reflect. We are asking all staff, volunteers, supporters and other friends of CAFOD to look back over their lives and recall the moment when they were first drawn into the fight against poverty and injustice. http://www.cafod.org.uk/whatlityourflame
Latest posts
