Glenn has been asking his listeners and viewers to familiarize themselves with the teachings and leadership of men like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi. Glenn has been advocating for a nonviolent approach to the dismay of many, but on radio this morning, Glenn read portions of King’s “A Tough Mind and A Tender Heart” sermon that articulates much of what he has been trying to convey these last few months.
“Please, I'm begging you, please read as much Martin Luther King as you possibly can,” Glenn said. “Yesterday I was reading, and I'm tell you, this sounds exactly like the people in Washington D.C. He's talking about the difference between, you know, be wise like serpents and tender as doves. That's what we're commanded to be – as wise as serpents and as tender as doves.”
In the sermon, King admits “the shape of the world today does not permit us the luxury of soft mindedness.” At the same time, however, King takes on “those hard hearted among us who feel that the only way to deal with oppression is to rise up against the oppression with physical violence and corroding hatred.”
Ultimately, King offers an alternative path that combines tough mindedness with tender heartedness:
“A third way is open in our quest for freedom, namely non-violent resistance, that combines though mindedness and tenderheartedness and avoids the complacency and do-nothingness of the soft minded and the violence and bitterness of the hardhearted.”
Read the entire sermon HERE.
After listening to Glenn highlight various aspects of King's work, Stu could not help but draw parallels to some of the things Glenn has been talking about recently.
“Is this related to what you've been talking about as far as the direction of the company and the direction that you're going in,” Stu asked Glenn. “It's not just all politics and seats and things like that. There has to be more to it because that's not how everyone connects. You have to also, you know, do the things that human beings do. What you're describing is not some magical formula. It's just being a human being.
“That's it. That's all it is,” Glenn responded. “Martin Luther King goes into saying, ‘What we're being presented with is one of two choices’…We're going to stand and we're going to stand firm and we're going to use our brains. We don't use our guns. We use our brains because you win by strategy. You use your brains and then you come to the table as the only ones that also are relating to the heart and you win.”