James Cunningham wrote an insightful column for the Orlando Sentinel in which he told us that MLK Sr, on a trip to Europe in 1934, was moved by Martin Luther, the monk and theologian who spoke truth to power in the Catholic Church which subsequently led to the Protestant Reformation. This act of extreme bravery also sparked reform within the Catholic Church at that time.
Martin Luther King was born Micheal King, but was so inspired by his experience he changed his name. Later his son, also Michael, changed his name to Martin Luther King, Jr. This was all news to me!
Is the phrase "Like father, like son" a truism? It's way more complicated than that. MLK, Sr., famously chose not to endorse John Kennedy for president because he was Catholic. Kennedy responded with amusement and surprise that MLK, Jr.'s father was a bigot but later won him over. I read an article decades ago that Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Kennedy had a conversation and agreed that their father's generation would have to die out before things could truly move ahead.
So, what's my take on all this? Our parent's values usually have a profound effect on us whether we know it or not. In order to seek maturity we need to hold on to our parents' values that ring true to us and dump the rest.
We are constantly evolving and moving forward can be a lonely process.
A few decades ago I received a kind note from Martin Luther King, Sr. telling me that he had read a couple of my poems from the pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist Church. I was grateful but not overly thrilled because I was unaware at that time of his powerful influence for good in his son's journey. I had come to a simplistic, uninformed conclusion that he was a stumbling block for process. I wasn't aware that he, as Mike King, chose to change his name after being inspired by the one individual man who changed history by sparking the Protestant Revolution.
Evolving is scary and takes time. I'm still working on it.
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