By Carrie Fox

Fifty years ago, on December 24, 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his Christmas Sermon on Peace and Nonviolence from Ebenezer Baptist Church at Atlanta, Georgia. As I reflect on the tragic events of this week, there no words that I can imagine more powerful or prophetic than these:

“All life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny.  Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality.”

He continued later in that speech with these words:

“I’ve seen too much hate to want to hate, myself…and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow, we must be able to stand up before our most bitter opponent and say: “We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force.”

Sometimes—and maybe especially after the most tragic of events, we need to know that people can come together in harmony.  Even when it feels no such thing is possible in our world. Sometimes, we need to see that love and kindness and pure joy can happen without interruption, or fear of hate.  For when we find ourselves working in harmony, kindness—just like the most beautiful of melodies—can reverberate throughout the world.

This week I preempt my regular blog post to share a short video sent to me by my great friend and mentor Bill Milliken.  Please watch it in a place where you’ll be able to hear it.  And sink into the music.

Then, do something about it.