At the age of 34, Martin Luther King Jr. crafted this ever-vibrant message to guide us in times of moral division.

Each year at this time, I re-read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. The 7,000-word letter was composed by Dr. King as he sat imprisoned in the solitary confinement of a Birmingham jail cell. Dr. King scribed his thoughts in the narrow margins of newspaper and the scraps of paper he could come by until his attorneys were permitted to bring a notepad to him in the jail cell.

Recreation of MLK Jail Cell, By Adam Jones, Ph.D. - Own work

The letter is Dr. Kings’s response to pleadings from eight local Christian and Jewish clergy who asked Dr. King to moderate and mollify the actions of civil rights protestors. Collectively, these clergymen wrote a letter to Dr. King called “A Call for Unity”.

Certainly, some of Dr. King’s most “T-shirt-ready and Pinterest-worthy phrases” were introduced to ages through this letter (timeless gems like “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” or “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”) But within the thoughtful, carefully reasoned response you will also find deftly shared lessons from Dr King's favorite classical and erudite sources including Socrates, Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, and the gospels according to the disciples of Jesus.

Dr. King's letter is a purposefully patient point-by-point response to the clergymen's requests for a more passive and collaborative (negotiated) approach rather than public protests.

Image taken from King Center Archive

Today we are a nation in turmoil, where neighbor can no longer understand neighbor. And, where parents and children sit across from one another in a confusing tangle of moral and cultural arguments that slip and shift depending on the lens or channel through which they are viewed. 

Dr. King's letter is a compass that draws us back to the unchanging gravitation of morality and human dignity. Each year, when I read the letter, a new passage levitates off the page and floats into my thoughts. And this year, these words are my beacon:

“I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.”

The letter is Dr King’s wish, persuasively stated. His return volley to the request that protesters ease up and step back, is to focus action on the root cause in order to drive the desired outcome: “that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.”

In this season of patriotic and personal reflection, I wish you the spirit of peace and human understanding that is essential if we are to become the "beloved community" that Dr. King implored us to be.

Carla Vernón loves sparking inspiration and optimism within this community and Corporate America. She is @CarlaInspired on twitter and your other favorite social media hot spots.