The Bhagavad Gita says:
If you want to see the brave, look at those who can forgive.
If you want to see the heroic, look at those who can love in return for hatred.
I know what a rogue federal law-enforcement agency is doing to law-abiding people in Minnesota. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was young, Black men would be dragged off the streets, accused of minor crimes, jailed and then forced to work on chain gangs. The supervisors of these rogue law-enforcement units were often Klansmen.
We make a mistake when we think the atrocities of our times are worse than those endured by those who came before us. We also err when we think our indignation — no matter how righteous — is going to change things by itself. The escalating cycle of indignation, outrage and violence is not the way.
Martin Luther King Jr. had reason to be outraged. His response was to persuade, rather than harm.
• Note: Dr. King was born on Jan. 15, 1929, and I’m marking his birthday. The holiday is Monday.
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