Can Fighting for Rights be Civil?

A person can read a million books and never understand the complexity of the writer’s ideas, but to hear the voice of said writer will make you see and believe in the power of words. Throughout history the struggle for equality has leaped from race to gender and then to sexuality. The Civil Rights Museum is a glimpse into the history of a battle that lives on in the lives of many people across the world. In my small knowledge of the fight for civil rights I have found that the more enlightened and understanding we become as a society the more civil the fight can end.
The civil rights museum was a visit to the past and reminder of the struggle that many people face today. Even in our "Free" America we are still bounded by the ideas of the people that preceded us. Are we ever going to be free from the veil that blinds us to the truth or are we bound to continue searching for freedom that may only exist in our minds?
As I took the stroll down "Memory Lane" and revisited the stories of my grandparents I felt a piece of myself awaken abruptly. It felt great to walk through the museum and hear the words of Dr. Martin Luther King as he gave some of the most prolific speeches about the rights of a "free-man", and every image that I had the pleasure of viewing sparked a sense of pride to say that someone did the painful so that I can be here.
I was a little shocked about how little emotion I felt about what happened in the past, as I overheard many people voice their distain of the past. Had I become so used to my "freedom" that I take for granted the suffering many had to endure for me to receive it? I think not. I can have the same fire about my son's future without feeling a need to be angry about the past. The death of Dr. King was terrible but I wonder if we would have gotten the same results if it were not for him being a martyr?
Unfortunately I am not one of those people that can take a look at something and see it for what it is. I have to probe and dissect the very images that are in front of me to figure out the foundation of its existence. So why is the death place such a national treasure? Are we celebrating the life, mourning his death or just revisiting the past as I found myself doing today? They say you can’t know where you are going until you understand where you came from, and the Civil Rights Museum is our small reminder that until we are all treated the same based on merit and not gender, race or sexuality then the struggle continues. Sometimes we need little reminders to get us off our butts and do something, not because it will benefit us but because it will be the marker for the next generation to reach for a little more than us.