i look up to martin luther king....and i liked princess diana too.
the human race is the human race...you will always have the National Enquirer reporters frantic for that exclusive headline to capture the worlds attention and you will always have that insatiable public's need to "know". and sadly you will always have the tragic demise of people like princess diana who are hounded into extinction by both...and that sells even more papers and creates even more feeding frenzy for more.
and you will have those thoughtful and carefully crafted and researched pieces in the Washington Post...the ones that looks deeper but with an unbiased respect for the truth... those sometimes lead to a Pulitzer Prize. (but not as many people read it)
i have never read the National Enquirer...but then I have never read the Washington Post either. i find my hero's in history...mostly because i can't find them in the real world anymore.
the thing i liked best about martin luther king is...he spoke not to become a famous hero, or to prove that he was better, or have his name in more newspapers than someone else did...he spoke simply to change the world. he carried the burden of his message with dignity and honest and unwavering committment and even as a child i recognized that.
i liked princess diana too...i liked that tarnished fairy tale thing about her, it was so much more real than the perfect princess routine. i liked how she kept trying to be the best that she could, even when she messed up. i liked how her sons were her world and her fierce protectiveness of the privacy of their youth. and i really liked watching her grow from awkwardness and unsurety into the beginnings of a strong and compassionate and ethical woman, strong enough to stand on her own.
i am perplexed that mr king was assassinated simply because he had a dream. and i am perplexed that a tarnished fairy tale princess was hounded to death because enquiring minds just had to know more.
i wonder...what would the world be like if they were both still alive today? maybe it would be better, or maybe not...but then i never got the chance to find out.
i was going to watch "hairspray" tonight but i started thinking about the destruction of goodness and possibility that our species continually struggles against.