The Reason for the Day

....is not the cause, but the Man.  Certainly, the cause was just, but it is the man we honor today.  Unfortunately, many people take that literally, and trot out Dr. King's all too human failings.  The debate about those failings detracts from the reason we honor the Man, with a capital "M".  Don't get me wrong, as a human being, Dr. King had weaknesses and character lapses shared by many of us. Why we celebrate the man is the same reason we celebrate Washington and Jefferson, Adams and Franklin, Gandhi, and Mother Theresa.  All of these Men (and Women) saw injustice, knew it was wrong, and took a stand.  Their stands weren't popular, and in fact, they were downright dangerous, but they took them anyway because their consciences would not allow them to stand idly by.  Had they not succeeded, we would still honor them for their courage.
Here in the Trenches, 20 years ago, mediation was considered radical.  Litigation was the only way to resolve disputes, even those involving families.  Mediators were considered tree-hugging radicals who sat around singing "Kumbaya" because everyone knew angry spouses couldn't mediate.  The battle lines were drawn and the mediating minority hung in.   Today mediation is ordered, in one form or another in every family law case.  When collaborative practice started to gain ground around 10 years ago, the naysayers said the same thing about collaborative practitioners.   The collaborators, like the mediators before them, are convinced that the old ways are not the only way to settle disputes.  When I see the battle lines being drawn again, I think of Dr. King:

 “The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.”