Darkness Can Not Drive Out Darkness

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness.
Only light can do that.
Hatred cannot drive out hatred.
Only love can do that.”
— Martin Luther King Jr. 1963

This quote feels especially appropriate today—especially this day.

We seem to be living in a time when darkness
 is being answered with more darkness.
When outrage feels justified.
When anger travels faster than understanding.
And yet, Dr. King reminds us
that the tools we instinctively reach for
are not the ones that actually heal.

Light is quieter than darkness.
Love is slower than hatred.
Both require intention.

Choosing light does not mean ignoring injustice.
It does not mean silence or passivity.
It means refusing to let cruelty shape who we become.
It means responding with clarity instead of contempt,
courage instead of bitterness,
humanity instead of fear.

Love, in this sense,
is not sentimental.
It is disciplined.
It is brave.
It is the daily decision
to see one another
as more than a label,
more than an enemy.

On this
Martin Luther King Jr. Day,
may we remember
that progress comes
when ordinary people
choose to be bearers of light—
in their words,
their actions,
and their willingness
to stay human
in inhuman times.

Even now.
Especially now.