“I am a drum major for justice.”

Listening at the taping of Vision for a New America: A Future Without Poverty last week (airing this week on PBS in the U.S.), I was reminded of just how much wisdom the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the black prophetic tradition that produced him, offer for us international do-gooders of today, whatever faith you may practice.

We all have a natural “drum major instinct”, or the basic desire for recognition, for importance, for attention, to be first. Dr. King warns us that if not careful, this instinct can be destructive, exclusive, snobbish, and people can be left behind.

This year’s panel spanned the political spectrum–Newt Gingrich to Jeffrey Sachs to Cornel West. Individuals’ drum major instincts were certainly on display. And I’ve been thinking about the instincts that rule the world and my nation, as well as my own drum major instinct, ever since.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington DC. Photo by Cocoabiscuit via flickr creative commons license. http://bit.ly/VIKZAS

On this day, his birthday, an excerpt from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s last sermon, “The Drum Major Instinct,” given at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 4, 1968. (You can read the full text and listen for yourself here.)

“The drum major instinct can lead to exclusivism in one’s thinking and can lead one to feel that because he has some training, he’s a little better than that person who doesn’t have it. Or because he has some economic security, that he’s a little better than that person who doesn’t have it. And that’s the uncontrolled, perverted use of the drum major instinct.”

…”[Jesus] did something altogether different. He said in substance, “Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you’re going to be my disciple, you must be.” But he reordered priorities. And he said, “Yes, don’t give up this instinct. It’s a good instinct if you use it right. (Yes) It’s a good instinct if you don’t distort it and pervert it. Don’t give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be first in love. (Amen) I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do.”

…”And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. 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. (Amen) That’s a new definition of greatness.

“And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, (Everybody) because everybody can serve. (Amen) You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. (All right) You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. (Amen) You only need a heart full of grace, (Yes, sir, Amen) a soul generated by love. (Yes) And you can be that servant.”