If I can help somebody as I pass along, If I can cheer somebody with a word or song, If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong, Then my living will not be in vain. If I can do my duty as a Christian ought, If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought, If I can spread the message as the master taught, Then my living will not be in vain.
Alma Androzzo (1945)
Near the end of his sermon now remembered as "The Drum Major Instinct," the Reverand Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked his audience not to remember him for his awards and honors, like the Nobel Peace Prize, but for his attempt to live up to the Sermon on the Mount.
He ended his famous sermon by quoting some lyrics from the gospel song "If I Can Help Somebody," made famous by Mahalia Jackson. And this is how we would like to remember MLK today: He challenged us all to be better Christians, or to use more secular terms, to live up to the better angels of our nature. His example lives on as an inspiration to all.
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