When you hear “I Have A Dream,” you probably have an image of Martin Luther King Jr. speaking confidently in your head. But did you know that was not originally in Martin Luther King’s speech? In one of his previous speeches, Martin was asked, “What is your dream?” That is what gave him the words, “I Have A Dream.” Without that random guy in the crowd, we may have never gotten to know what MLK’s crusade was for.

MLK’s dream speech was life-changing and changed the Civil Rights Movement, but how? His speech gave people confidence because Martin Luther King Jr. defied the beliefs of society and remained standing tall in the face of adversity. He envisioned that his children would live in a nation in which they would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. This is who he was: a leader.

His speech probably got him as much hate as praise because he was fighting the majority. It being MLK week, what we can take away from him is to find what we stand for and be willing to stand up for it.

It has always been the accepted thing to follow the same path that everyone else is following, to not say anything too disagreeable, and to confirm popular beliefs. But Martin was different. He did not care if people liked him, and even after receiving death threats and going to jail, Martin Luther King Jr. stood by what he truly believed in.

That gets me thinking about people today shaming others for what they believe. I’ve heard “try-hard” being used as an insult, which is like saying that caring too much is somehow wrong. Being careless is easy because everyone will like you for agreeing with them. We’re too afraid of being disliked that we are ashamed of being ourselves. Defying the social norm is definitely hard, but look at all that Martin Luther King Jr. did. Without him fighting for his beliefs, his people would not be where they are today.