This essay is far and away one of the most impactful works I have ever read. It is a call-to-arms urging that we embrace the warm bodies of one another instead of the cold triggers of our rifles, or the tight reigns of our ideologies. Martin Luther King Jr.’s commitment to nonviolent resistance and his ideas about building community and uniting nations are just as relevant today as they were decades ago.

His words feel especially urgent in today’s global economic and political climate. The challenges of globalization that Dr. King writes about in this essay have only become more grating. Forty years ago it was inexcusable that so many still lived in poverty given the advances in technology and wealth of Western civilizations, yet we are still facing these same problems. We forget our history and therefore repeat it. This essay is a stark reminder that America’s history is riddled with corruption and misdeeds and if we are unable to reconcile with the facts, we are doomed to repeat our bad behavior until it becomes too late to correct.