If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a
long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them
not to talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want
them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace
Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three
or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to
mention where I went to school.
I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others.
I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.
I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question.
I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry.
And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked.
I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison.
I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.
Yes,
if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major
for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major
for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I
won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and
luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a
committed life behind. And that's all I want to say.
Martin Luther King, Jr. The Drum Major Instinct Sermon
Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, 4 February 1968
