Role models and true stories of service

From 16Guidelines

Martin Luther King Jr: Service

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” Martin Luther King demonstrated this principle not only in his words but also in the way he dedicated his life to the struggle for justice and peace. “As long as there is poverty in the world I can never be rich, even if I have a billion dollars…I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the way our world is made.”

King’s views were grounded not only in his Christian faith but also in a vision of common humanity. “All men are interdependent. Every nation is an heir of a vast treasure of ideas and labour to which both the living and the dead of all nations have contributed. Whether we realise it or not, each of us lives eternally ‘in the red’.” His commitment to justice and equality was similarly down to earth. As King said in his 1963 ‘Strength to Love’ speech, “The good neighbour looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers.”

King’s argument rests on the realisation that to love and serve each other is a natural consequence of our shared humanity. It is the true sign of civilization and progress. Behind some of his most moving speeches, it is possible to sense his frustration at our inability to understand that “We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools!”

Martin Luther King’s tireless campaign for black dignity and equality was the external expression of his belief in love and service without limits. When he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize he described it as a commission to go out and work even harder for the things that he believed in.

Martin Luther King’s ‘Drum Major Speech’ was delivered in Atlanta, Georgia in 1968, a few months before his assassination. It sums up his vision for how to lead a happy and meaningful life. “If you want to be important – wonderful. If you want to be recognized – wonderful. If you want to be great – wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness….By giving that definition of greatness it means that everybody can be great. Because everybody can serve…You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

Tim Lefens: Service

Tim Lefens never saw himself as a ‘kind’ person – he was a successful and self-centred artist who loved surfing, women and motorbikes. But in the early 1990s, he agreed to show some slides of his work at a centre for the severely disabled. His book ‘Flying Colors’ describes how that day changed his life. He unexpectedly found his gaze held by a man in a wheelchair, whose body was agonisingly contorted but whose indestructible spirit shone out of his eyes. Lefens became obsessed with helping physically disabled people to express their inner spirit through painting. He has now developed a system by which they can direct a trained studio assistant to apply the paint, using a laser attached to a headband. The results have been extraordinary, selling in some of the most important galleries in New York City. Tim describes his work as “not based on helping the less fortunate, but on bringing full, uncompromised creative power to people whose thoughts and feelings are simply trapped by their body’s limitations.” The organization he set up is called Artistic Realization Technologies www.artrealization.org