October 27, 2010 • By Ana Guthrie

 There's no place like home, family.

 

 

Well, I'm not exactly home YET, but what better way to pacify a tortuous 3-hour delayed flight to Miami by grabbing an overpriced Pumpkin Spice Starbucks latte (is it just me or does your brain tell you that you're drinking a Glade candle?) and hashing out a NEWD column in a cozy nook of the Charlotte International Airport.

 

I'm returning home after a 5-day long conference where Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU's) discussed how to continue moving our vital institutions through the Information Age, especially since so many traditionally black schools were birthed to train ex-slaves for what used to be the Agricultural and, later, the Industrial Ages (a la Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tuskegee, Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University and so forth).

 

 

Being that I'm experiencing conference overload, however, the last thing I want to do is discuss information science. No way.

 

 

A stay in Montgomery, Alabama, though, was good for my soul. I'm not just talking flowery, writer talk either...I really mean that, y'all (oh and I came back with a Southern twang). It swells my heart and blesses my spirit when I think of how much victory the nation experienced on account of what was sparked in Montgomery. I was able to see a few of the Civil Rights Movement sites, which was way neat. And speaking of soul, I dabbled with some new--to me, anyway--forms of soul food: deep-fried pickles and fried macaroni & cheese croquettes. They were aiiiight.

 

 

And it was pretty narly to be in walking distance to the Dexter Memorial Baptist Church and parsonage, where Dr. King pastored and famously launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott, along with the late Mother Rosa Parks, of course. A few colleagues from Atlanta presented on how they were given the task by Morehouse College to archive and digitize Dr. King's personal papers, manuscripts, sermons and letters (like the famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail). Talk about having total job envy! You can see the fruits of their labor by clicking here. Like many, I esteem Dr. King as one of the most contagious and imitable servant leaders. If Montgomery is the "Capital of Dreams," as folks often contend, then surely Dr. King is the Captain of Dreams.

 

 

He prompted greatness, then and now.

 

 

In 1967, Dr. King preached a sermon entitled "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life." Here's some of the transcript:

 

You know, they used to tell us in Hollywood that in order for a movie to be complete, it had to be three-dimensional. Well, this morning I want to seek to get over to each of us that if life itself is to be complete, (YES) it must be three-dimensional (ALL RIGHT)...

 

 

There are three dimensions for any complete life to which we can fitly give the words of this text: length, breadth, and height. (YES)

 

 

Now, the length of life as we shall use it here is in the inward concern for one's own welfare (YES)...In other words, it is that inward concern that causes one to push forward, to achieve his own goals and ambitions...It means that you must love yourself. And you know what loving yourself also means? It means that you've got to accept yourself. (ALL RIGHT)

 

 

The breadth of life as we shall use it here is the outward concern for the welfare of others (ALL RIGHT). So I move on to say that it is necessary to add breadth to length...A man has not begun to live until he can rise above the narrow confines of his own individual concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity (YEAH).

 

 

And the height of life is the upward reach for God (ALL RIGHT)...We must move beyond humanity and reach up, way up for the God of the universe, whose purpose changeth not (RIGHT)...We were made for God, and we will be restless until we find rest in Him (OH, YEAH).

 

 

Now, you got to have all three of these to have a complete life.

 

Meditate for a few seconds on Dr. King's wisdom concerning living a fulfilled life. You can even listen to a clip of the sermon here.

 

 

Are you being the best version of you possible? Are you impacting the lives of those in your world? And, above all, are you desperate to know and honor Jehovah God, in whom we live and move and have our being? (Acts 17:28)

 

Let's be three-dimensional.

 

 

 

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