A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.

He said that. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "A man can't ride your back unless it's bent." Think about that for a minute. What he was saying is that anyone can take advantage of you and keep you down if you let them. Of course, there was much more nuance and meaning wrapped up in those 9 words when he spoke them, but that's the baseline, that's the heart of it. He was encouraging black people to become advocates for themselves and peacefully resist segregation and intolerance built up by white lawmakers (and, sadly, a good portion of the general population) who wanted to preserve the separation of blacks and whites at any cost.

Today, this Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I take those words to heart. Do they have the same meaning for me as they did for the people to whom he was speaking back in the mid-60s? No, for several reasons. Most basically, I'm white and it's 2006. I wasn't around when the Civil Rights struggle was in full swing and Dr. King was rousing hope and making waves. But his words mean something to me in my own life. Just because something was said in a time that you weren't part of, to a people you're not part of, doesn't mean that you can't see validity and glean your own moments of insight from them.

To me, those words mean that I cannot be defeated if I don't allow it to happen. If I don't invite failure in, I've got a good shot at succeeding. If I make myself into a doormat then chances are I'm going to get stepped on. 2006 is a time for making strides, a time for growth and a time for walking tall. My back is not bent.

Thank you, Dr. King, for the lessons. Perhaps if more people read your words and not just recognized your face we'd all learn something.