I follow a well know historian on a social media site. He posed a common question that often appears on days like today. How would the world be different if Martin Luther King were still alive? That got me to thinking. Then I saw an old clip of Dr. Kings final speech and I wanted to try and answer the question.

The past is always viewed through the prism of life experience since that point in the past that is being examined. Dr. King’s speech struck me so differently as a 10 year old when I first saw a portion of it on the news on the night it happened than it did this morning when I saw it again. My memory of it was also affected by the immediacy of his assassination so soon after it. The world didn’t have the time to accept and process the weight of what he said that night before we were forced to deal with his violent passing.

We all relate the longevity speech to what happened right afterward. But his speech was so much more than a premonition of his death. That speech wasn’t about him. His speeches never were. His final speech was about what all of his speeches were about. Having a vision and moving toward it. Joining him in the vision of a brighter, clearer, more equitable tomorrow. He wasn’t asking people to follow him. His invitation was to step into tomorrow with him.

Martin Luther King Dr would be 95 if he hadn’t died. Probably perhaps passed the time when his presence would still be making a distinct difference. But in the 50+ years since that day on the Lorraine Motel balcony, his voice, his words would have moved the world in a different direction.

I watched a few clips from many of his speeches this morning. Not only was he an orator whose ability to move an audience is unsurpassed, but his unique delivery brought that audience to the edge of their seat. Thank goodness there are innumerable videos of his speeches.

He wasn’t a leader who lead from the front, or the back. He lead from abreast. That was his talent. His gift to the world. And why no one has been able to stand in his pulpit, much less fill his shoes. As I said earlier, his speeches were never about himself. They were filled with the shared vision of equality. The community spirit of how we all get there together.

He didn’t want to lead his people to the promise land. He wanted to get there with them. That’s what the leaders of today don’t understand, can’t comprehend. A change in society that doesn’t begin with them. It begins with the inspiration to work together toward one goal. Marshaling the force of shared energy. The emphasis for today’s leaders is who has the better answer.

But we don’t need the answer. We have the answer. We know what society needs to benefit the greatest number of people. What we need is someone who will share the burden of change, not drag us kicking and screaming into it. What we need is someone who will admit to not having an answer because there is no answer. There is to just do.

I am sure there are countless studies of how Dr King was able to accomplish all that he did. I am sure they have parsed his phrases and word usage. Examined his imagery and thought process. But his strength wasn’t just in the cerebral rendering. His power was in his cadence and how that cadence related to his passion. He never held back his passion. But it ebbed and flowed with his very human heart.

Martin Luther King Jr pulled at the hearts of minds of his audience, in person and on television. The humanness that he put on display in every single speech elevated that speech to a Godliness that escapes even the strongest orator. For Dr King, it wasn’t the messenger that mattered. It was the message.

The world would be a different place if Dr. King had been able to survive to be 95. There would have been ample opportunity for others to understand the power behind the message and not get lost in the absence of the messenger. Dr Martin Luther King would have become the living legend created through the shared vision. A man, for and by, the people.