One of the things that never cease to shock me is how fast time seems to get away from all of us.  One minute we are graduating from school, or achieving a major promotion, or a major event in our lives, then before we realize it, we are looking back at it, wondering where all the time went.  That is much how I feel on the day I'm writing this, looking back at an event in history that was 40 years ago.

There had risen among the people of this land a man who saw how things were and decided to take a stand for ways to make things better, not only for people like himself, but for all men.  He saw division and tried to get people to see that differences could exist, but all could live and work together.  It became his life's work.  He traveled around this country and other parts of the world, preaching this message and practicing what he preached, some times winding up in a jail for demonstrations or protests of the wrong that man was doing to his fellow man.  His actions and efforts sought to reaffirm the words of the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  His journey and struggle continued for many years, addressing discrimination, and other wrongs and problems that man faced.  In what many consider his greatest speech, he stated, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”  He wasn't a perfect man, nor do I believe he would want people to think of him as one, but rather as a man who worked toward his dream.

Forty years ago on the day I'm writing these words, someone rose up and killed that man.  He killed the man, but not the dream.  It lives on and will continue to do so, long past the day that the prejudices of men have since gone to the dust of the earth.

Later that same year, the world saw the birth of an idea that caught fire in the ranks of Trekkies all over, called IDIC.  Ruth Berman in the first issue of Inside Star Trek explained the philosophy of IDIC this way:

“Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations represents a Vulcan belief that beauty, growth, and progress all result from the union of the unlike.  Concord, as much as discord, requires the presence of at least two different notes.  The brotherhood of man is an ideal based on learning to delight in our essential differences, as well as learning to recognize our similarities.  The IDIC symbol is a union of a plain circle and triangle, uniting to produce the beautiful gemstone in the middle.  The circle represents infinite, nature, woman, etc., the triangle can represent the finite, art, man, etc.”

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Over the last forty years, many people have strived to live to the ideals proclaimed by IDIC.  They have sought to get past the old prejudices that separate men and work toward that state represented by the gemstone, where all work together for the betterment of all of men, not just for themselves.  Sadly, as has happened in the past so many times, when an idea for change and improvement arises, many arise and fight to protect the status quo.  It has become their comfort zone.  In some areas of fandom, just mentioned IDIC will start a verbal war, with people who oppose the concept saying “It's impossible” or “It is just a dramatic device on a television show” or “It was created just to sell some jewelry” in a vain effort to justify their own actions and concepts.  

That is one of the strange traits of the creature called man.  He can call for equal rights and against discrimination, but gets defensive if it interferes with his plans and goals.  He can call for patience with people, but show so little of it when it interferes with his life.  He can call for tolerance of his beliefs, but show pitiful little tolerance to the beliefs of others, sometimes working to totally exclude the beliefs of a majority of people, in the name of tolerance for his own.  He can proclaim that we should care for our brother, as long as it doesn't come out of his wallet.  He can call for cooperation between warring camps, but will go to war in an instant if his idea is not the prevailing one.  He can claim to debate the issues when he only attacks the messenger and avoids discussion of the message.  The creature, man, is the poster child for contradiction at times, is he not?

40 years ago, we lost the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. but the dream lives on.  People rise up against change for the betterment of all men, but it still lives on.  People scream for their viewpoint to the exclusion of all others, but the dream lives on.  People whose belief system goes against their own can scream that they should be tolerated and show none for the belief systems of others, seeking their exclusion from all things, but the dream still lives on.

John Lennon wrote, “You can say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.” He wasn't and still isn't.  The dream of Dr. King, of leaders of the world's many different faiths, of political leaders for a world where diversity is beautiful and all can work for the better good is still obtainable.  It only takes a positive answer to the following question, on the part of everyone who strives for the dream:

Do you practice what you preach?

Think about it.

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