Speakers pay homage to MLK’s legacy, message

Dignity, self-worth and empathy among the themes

Bryce Boddie — a speaker at Boerne’s Martin Luther King Jr. observance Monday — knows a thing or two about restoring human dignity when people are hurting.

The July Fourth floods led to Boddie’s Hill Country Family Services reaching out to help victims affected by the surging storm waters that left death and destruction in their wake.

Boddie spoke of self-worth and respect during the MLK Day rally on Main Plaza honoring the pioneering American civil rights leader and minister, felled by an assassin’s bullet April 4, 1968.

About 75 people gathered around the pavilion — some holding signs or wearing shirts bearing King’s quotes and philosophy —

“(Martin Luther King Jr.) advocated for self-worth, and that’s important for us to do in our day-to-day lives.”

— Bryce Boddie to hear Boddie, HCFS executive director, talk about his social-outreach efforts.

A social worker by vocation, Boddie cited two examples from his profession’s code of values: social justice and human dignity.

“That’s something, as a social worker, we work for every day,” Boddie said. “When people ask me about my job, I literally tell them, ‘I love my job, because I get to do what I was born to do,’ which is to advocate for people who may be hurting, may be having a hard time in their lives.”

When people think about King, he said, they immediately remember his drive to assist others.

“One of the things he did all the time was help people, especially people of color, realize their worth,” Boddie said. “It’s something we should be doing every day in our community.”

Knowing your selfworth, he said, is important to getting “to a spot where you can advocate for others. You can’t do that until you know yourself.”

Boddie read an excerpt from King’s “What Is Your Life’s Blueprint” speech, delivered Oct. 26, 1967 — just six months before his death — when he was a surprise speaker at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia.

“I want to suggest some things that should be in your life’s blueprint,” King told those students in Philadelphia that day.

“Number one in your life’s blueprint should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your own worth, in your own ‘somebodiness,’” King said. “Don’t allow anybody to make you feel that you are nobody. Always feel that you have worth, and that your life has ultimate significance.”

Boddie said patrons visiting the organization’s food pantry, those who arrive for crisis counseling and people receiving care packages when disaster hits are folks who need to feel that self-worth and who may need a helping hand to restore their dignity.

“If you take anything away from today, remember that is what MLK did; he advocated for selfworth, and that’s important for us to do in our day-today lives,” Boddie said.

The Rev. Peter E. Bauer, interim pastor at Touchstone Community United Church of Christ, spoke on the need for empathy –– a quality that makes the country stronger, he added.

“That’s what we capitalize on as Americans, and that’s what we capitalize on people who believe in freedom and justice for all,” Bauer said.

The minister asked listeners to put themselves in the place of the less fortunate and understand what the latter are going through.

“I ask you to show empathy to those you do not know, to those who are immigrants, empathy to those who are poor, empathy to those who do not have wealth and the resources that we do,” he said.

Richard Caldwell, one of the rally organizers, said showing appreciation for what King accomplished in his lifetime is especially needed now.

“He talked not only about freedom, but of justice and equality for all,” Caldwell said. “He stood up against brutality, kind of what’s going on today, and ... hopefully today will inspire people to continue the fight.”