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From: ofut@gatech.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.philosophy,net.politics
Subject: Re: Was King a man of peace ?
Message-ID: <1727@gatech.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 26-Oct-83 13:22:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: gatech.1727
Posted: Wed Oct 26 13:22:40 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 28-Oct-83 02:15:08 EDT
References: <818@cbscd5.UUCP> cp1.567, <2030@utah-cs.UUCP>
Organization: Georgia Tech School of ICS, Atlanta
Lines: 19

I recently had a thought.  Let's look at the long-range historical
perspective.  Was Washington really such a great guy?  Probably not.
He was a good general and had a lot of children but I doubt if he
ever chopped down cherry trees.  He is a symbol.

If we make King a hero in our generation then he will cease to be
a person as well and will become a symbol.  I'm not so sure that he's
such a great guy either but I think it's a great symbol.  What will
our grand-children think of when they think of King?  Peace, equality,
goodness and all those good things. 

Hopefully they'll  respect him and those things as well.

Historically, we remember people but are affected by symbols.
-- 
Jeff Offutt
School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA
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