Anecdote Of The Week

"How long? Not long. Martin and Malcolm knew they didn't have much time. In Benjamin Mays' famous poem he illuminates how time is fleeting: '60 seconds in a minute, a lifetime depends on it.' In the average lifespan of 70 years, people will spend 23 years sleeping, e16 years working, 8 years watching television, 6 years eating, 6 years commuting, 4 1/2 years for leisure, 4 years ill, 2 years dressing, and 6 months involved in religion.

Martin and Malcolm knew they wouldn't have 70 years. They were hoping they could get more than 60 seconds in a minute. Malcolm spent from 1925 to 1938 being a good student. From 1938 to 1946, he was separated from his family and became a hustler. He was incarcerated from 1946 to 1952 and became Malcolm X. He only had 13 years from 1952 to 1965 to share his brilliance with his people.

How long? Not long. Sixty seconds in a minute Martin Luther King knew he didn't have much time. He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School at 15, Morehouse College at 19, Crozier with a master degree at 22, Boston University with a doctorate at 26, and died at 39. Thirteen years to try to save the world. It is not how long you live, but what you do while you are alive." -From, "Sankofa: Stories of Power, Hope, and Joy" By: Jawanza Kunjufu