If he had lived, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have turned 78 on Monday. This weekend, many celebrated the life he lived before it was cut short. At a service in his honor, the words of Dr. King resonated at Shove Chapel, Sunday, where Jeff Warren brought his family for 2 reasons.
"For the kids to learn, and for us to remember," said Warren. "It's important they know about the civil rights movement, and the sacrifices made by those involved-- this generation needs to know."
That generation includes Warren's young son, Hunter, who may never know the suffering endured during King's lifetime, but knows what came of it.
"It fixed a lot of things," said Hunter Warren. "It was so they wouldn't get hurt anymore and so they could sit in the front of the bus."
But are we as a nation still living King's dream?
"I don't think we've lost sight of his dream," said Ceremony Chairman James Sauls. "But I think we've lost the commitment to his dream."
Sauls heard King speak at the Birmingham March. He says if King were alive today, he'd be proud of how our nation has progressed, but just as determined to make things better.
"There are still pockets in our society where people are still being treated unfairly in the courts, on the streets, and in housing areas."
He says King's message was fundamental-- peace, liberty, and justice for all, regardless of race, color, creed. It was his dream-- a dream that lives on, in the hearts of those who refuse to let it die.