MLK Interlude

I say to you this morning that if you have never found something so dear and so precious to you that you will die for it then you aren't fit to live You may be 38 years old as I happen to be And one day some great opportunity stands before you And calls upon you to stand up for some great principle Some great issue some great cause And you refuse to do it because you are afraid You refuse to do it because you want to live longer You're afraid that you will lose your job Or you're afraid that you will bе criticized Or that you will lose your popularity Or you're afraid that somеbody will stab you or shoot at you or bomb your house Aand so you refuse to take the stand Well you may go on and live until you are 90 But you're just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90 And the sensation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit You died when you refused to stand up for right You died when you refused to stand up for truth You died when you refused to stand up for justice