When fighting for the freedom of the black people of America, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in jail about the difference between legal, illegal, just, and unjust laws. His purpose was to prove to his readers that he was not breaking the laws since, in his opinion, the laws were unjust. However, he was not trying to say that all laws are unjust just those concerning the freedoms of the black people.
Not many people disagree that what Adolf Hitler and his Nazi followers did to the Jews in Germany was morally wrong. However, as King points out, he was not doing anything lawfully wrong because Hitler made the laws. Never should we allow the laws of our country to be our only determining factor on what we should and should not do. Man’s laws are not always right.
This quote is compelling to me because as children we are told to follow the rules and never break the laws. When in reality sometimes that is exactly what we MUST do to do what is right. As teenagers, we are judged because people assume that we will not follow the rules. What if we do not think that the rules are right? I wish that I could say that this is always the reason that teenagers disobey the rules but unfortunately, it is not. For that reason, many of us that are trying to prove a point and stand up for a cause are brought down by the rule-breakers with no cause. This is exactly what happened to King when he was trying to show others that he was serious about making a change by using nonviolent resistance. However, when some people act violently it ruins King’s image and destroys what change he was attempting.
It scares me to see our law enforcers do things like give speeding tickets for one mile over and arrest people on a whim. If they are the deciding factor on what is just and unjust and the people do not think to question them, then whom will they question? When will they look to see if the laws they are abiding are still just and morally right? If the Germans would have questioned Hitler then maybe Hitler would not have gotten away with what he did to the Jews for as long as he did.
We all must decide for ourselves our own moral right and wrong. Then we have to stand up for what we believe in. Even if that means throwing the governments rulebook out the window and showing the government that they are wrong. Only we can decide how far we will let the situation go before we will take a stand. We have to believe that our, our family and our friend’s lives are important enough to take a stand, no matter how dangerous, for our beliefs. We must decide if we will follow God or man’s laws.
King knew that to get what he wanted done and make a change, he had to question authority and if necessary break the laws that are holding the people back from seeing the truth.
