As a boy, I was raised to be very respectful of authority.  So, it was not surprising that Martin Luther King was held in low esteem in our household.  After all, he was encouraging people to dis-respect authority.   But, it was not racism.  In fact, my father, who had spent a great deal of time with “coloreds” in World War II, was always very sympathetic to their cause.  It was about being dis-respectable to authority.

Respecting authority seemed to make sense as a boy.  However, when I was in the Army, I found myself over-dosing with rigid authority figures.  Fortunately Special Forces had a looser structure, and I was strongly attracted to the mission-first mind-set and the “authority-be-damned” mentality.

My attitude toward King slowly changed from a trouble-maker, dis-respecting authority, into a fellow soldier, fighting for what he believed.  He died for what he believed, and I will always respect that!

Yes, he had money-troubles, but who hasn’t.  Yes, he had women-troubles, but who hasn’t?  But, he changed America, even though he never held a military commission nor a public office.  He had authority, real authority — moral authority — and I do respect that authority . . . just like I was taught.