"And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."

Dear Dr. King,

Thank you. Thank you for your divine service bequeathing us a shared history to be proud of. No matter what they say of Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington or any of those tiny men with powdered wigs; we know who the founder of our shared future is.

You made us what we will become. You interpreted our shared dreams. You taught us how to believe when we were tired of believing. The faith you placed in us still powers revolutions around the globe and beyond.

You taught us what it means to be loved, not just by our fellow man, but to be loved by God. And while we may still quibble on the definition of that small word or its big idea, we together are beginning to understand that whether we are theistic or atheistic or pantheistic, agnostic or ignostic, Christian or Jewish or Muslim or Hindu or Animist or Spiritualists, whether we choose teachers from the New Age or the Old Testament, whether we find confidence and comfort from Norse legends, English nursery rhymes, Hopi myths, or other stories shared in honor of human potential.

No matter the culture we are assigned to as a diplomat from birth, we each are here for the same simple purpose described by one writer as this

"to be the eyes and ears and conscience of the Creator of the Universe."

We thank that Creator for the blessings of time on Earth and providing America with the compass of our one true King.

May the hands of God and Man bless our humble work in service of your dream.

Amen