One of the blog articles Marks posted on her blog comes from a sermon delivered by Martin Luther King Jr on how the value of managing opposites not only makes one strong, but prepares one for engaging in nonviolent activism. The sermon, posted in May of 2014, was based on Jesus's exhortation to His disciples to be as 'wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.' It comes in three parts. Part 1 deals with our need to be tough minded rather than soft minded, which is being as wise as serpents. Part 2 tells to had being tenderhearted to our tough mindedness. Being tenderhearted makes one as harmless as doves. Part 3 tells us how the combination of being tough minded and tenderhearted control how we engage in nonviolent activism (click here for the article).
In part 1, Martin Luther King Jr. tells us to be tough minded rather than soft minded. The former forms judgments on situations and people after evaluating as much information as possible. Being tough minded seeks the truth over what is convenient. Being tough minded means putting in the work in order to arrive at a 'realistic appraisal' of a situation and requires a firm commitment.
Being soft minded seeks to maintain a comfortable place in the status quo. Thus, unlike being tough minded where one 'postjudges,' being soft minded leads one to prejudge people and situations. Being soft minded doesn't require a person to think through things, it settles for a non-strenuous thinking that quickly comes to a convenient assessment. Being soft minded moves one to be gullible especially when listening to or reading those who pass themselves off as authority figures.
Being soft minded causes one to be susceptible to accepting superstitions and 'irrational fears.' In terms of religion, though I disagree with the example King uses, he states an important preference by those who prefer to be soft minded. King says:
Soft-minded persons have revised the Beatitudes to read, “Blessed are the pure in ignorance: for they shall see God.”Thus, it is easy to see why King calls on us to be tough minded and engaged rather than soft minded with an attention deficit disorder when thinking through today's issues and injustices.
King then deals with being tenderhearted in the second part of his sermon. Why? Being tough minded but hardhearted only leads one to objectify others and thus make others disposable. Being hardhearted leads one to being cold and unable to love others. Being tough minded emphasizes God's justice. But God's grace is neglected unless one is tenderhearted as well.
Then King talks about how being tough minded and tenderhearted moves Blacks to seek 'freedom and justice.' In contrast to that, King states that being soft minded allows people to settle for being victims and being dominated. King mentions how some of the Hebrews preferred the comforts they had as slaves in Egypt to the challenges they had in seeking their own freedom.
According to King, being hardhearted makes a place for bitterness and even violence. And employing violence can only bring 'temporary victories' at best.
In part 3, King culminates his message in showing how being tough minded and tenderhearted leads one to pursue change through nonviolent methods. Being tough minded and tenderhearted combines both God's justice and His grace, for we need both.
There is so little to criticize in King's sermon that it is not worth the time mentioning any errors. But if we use this sermon by King as a canon for today's activism, especially activism of liberals and leftists, we find that our current forms of activism are found wanting-- and wanting to a great degree. For while we may refrain from employing physical violence in our activism, our violence of the spirit shown in our bitter denouncements of our rivals can only make our pursuit of social justice more and more impossible. For instead of trying to win people over with the combination of our tough mindedness and tenderheartedness, we find ourselves seeking to conquer all with whom we disagree. And besides the fact that we lack the numbers to conquer others, such a method of victory carries a too high a cost that is repaid in inevitable blowback.
Perhaps one of the reasons that the Left in America has such an insignificant impact is because our hardheartedness makes people defensive and thus impossible for us to gain them as allies. Thus, our hardheartedness puts us in the impossible position of having to conquer them.
references
- https://thevalueofsparrows.com/2014/05/04/sermon-a-tough-mind-and-a-tender-heart-by-martin-luther-king-jr/
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