Over the weekend I had the honor of participating in a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I was lucky enough to see the Harlem Gospel Choir perform for a crowd of a few thousand people in Cambridge. Their performance was so uplifting and inclusive that I felt compelled to comment on it. The Choir had the audience on their feet clapping, singing, and ensuring that everyone left feeling uplifted and hopeful. Their website says that “the theme of every performance is ‘bringing people & nations together & giving something back’” and they delivered on that promise.

The Choir was formed in response to a tribute to King the same year his birthday became a national holiday, and they are great ambassadors of the message he espoused.

As it happens, the world as a whole is coming together right now in much the same way, albeit through social media, to help out those in Haiti. I wonder what Dr. King would have done to motivate the world if he had Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Google. Would he applaud our efforts to help those in despair or think that in an age of such powerful mediums we should be doing that much more. I think and I hope we have come a long way since April 4, 1968, but I know that sharing in the music and the love that the Gospel Choir brought to us on Saturday night was a good reminder of what we must continually do now. People coming together to embrace a spirit of love and acceptance… I think Dr. King would be proud.

Do something today in his honor, however small.

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