I Believe I Can Fly
- This big thing that's happening in the world is related to a lot of other things that happened earlier—steps on the path toward human freedom. To understand the present, we have to take a look at the past.
- Dr. King imagines himself talking to God at the beginning of time.
- "So, Martin Luther King," says God, "when it's your time to be on Earth, when and where would you like to live?" "I'm so glad you asked," Dr. King says. "I have a long list. Let's start with Egypt."
- So we're off to Egypt to witness the Biblical story of the Exodus, when the Israelites escaped from slavery and began their trek to the Promised Land (see our "Glossary" and "Symbols" sections).
- Egypt is pretty exciting, but there's still lots more to see.
- A quick jump through time and space plops us down in ancient Greece, where philosophers are philosophizing, dramatists are being dramatic, and everyone's basically hanging out talking about mega-deep questions like, "what is reality really?"
- Actually, come back, because, as cool as Greece was, now Dr. King wants to see the grandeur that was Rome and all the political goings-on there.
- But wait, there's more: after Rome, we visit the Renaissance and all the artsy stuff that ended up in famous museums, then 16th-century Germany and the beginnings of Protestantism, then Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, then Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Great Depression.
- Finally, we're back up to the present (the 1960s), which Dr. King says is what he'd choose—exactly the time and place he actually lived.
- That works out well, eh?