January 15th was MLK Day this year in the United States, a federal holiday dedicated to the life and work of the American civil rights activist and pioneer Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. MLK Day has long been an important holiday for me personally, a time to reflect on service, community, and the social equity which we still struggle daily to achieve as a society. Famously, Dr. King’s philosophies of nonviolence were heavily inspired by the philosophies of Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi; Dr. King once wrote that Gandhi’s approach was “the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom’’.[1] So on this day, the connection between these two leaders’ efforts and ideologies got me thinking about the relationship between the guiding tenets of Dr. King’s work and the work that Profugo is doing here in India today — specifically, the relationship between Dr. King’s “Beloved Community” and Profugo’s concept of a “Global Neighborhood”.
The Beloved Community is a concept that was popularized by Dr. King in the 1950s and 1960s and is a global vision for shared peace, prosperity, and sister- and brotherhood. In the Beloved Community, international standards of human decency would be created and upheld to combat poverty, hunger and homelessness; racism, discrimination, bigotry and prejudice would not be tolerated; and disputes would be cleared through conflict-resolution and reconciliation rather than war between adversaries. This vision was not seen as utopian, since it recognized that conflict was a necessary part of human interaction, but rather “a realistic, achievable goal that could be attained by a critical mass of people committed to” the stated ideals.[2]
A Beloved Community, like a Global Neighborhood, first requires people to recognize the shared humanity and dignity of everyone, regardless of differences in appearance, background, lifestyle or beliefs. Poverty, racism and militarism are threats to this shared humanity and dignity and so all members of a Beloved Community must work together to eliminate these threats whether or not they are personally affected by them. The work that Profugo does in Prashanthagiri, work that is supported by folks like you from all over the world, is a reflection of these beliefs. Strengthen one community by treating it with the dignity and care you should your next-door neighbor, and you strengthen them all. A woman in Valad with more economic stability, a child who is able to receive needed supplies for the school year, a family who receives critical health services and a community that wards off hunger and illness with the spread of organic practices — the improvement in the lives of all of these people, supporting each other and being fortified by the efforts of a global kinship, improves the world at large.
Dr. King believed that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. Justice and a dignified quality of life does not belong to any one person; it is a right of us all, of every member of this Global Neighborhood which we live in. Whether they know it or not, I believe that every person involved in Profugo’s mission strives to uphold Dr. King’s vision of the Beloved Community, and on this Martin Luther King Day, I am especially grateful to be a part of it.
References:
[1] King, Martin Luther, Jr. The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4:473–481.
[2] The King Center. “The King Philosophy”. Retrieved from: http://www.thekingcenter.org/king-philosophy
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.