The Montgomery Improvement Association was formed in response to Mrs. Parks’
arrest and a 26-year-old black preacher was voted by his peers to lead the 381-day
bus boycott that ensued. On being nominated to lead the boycott that night, the
young preacher would later write:
“It happened so quickly that I did not have time to think it through. It is probable that if I had, I would have declined
the nomination.”Thank goodness he didn’t think it through. He would become one of the
greatest civil rights leaders of all time. His name was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. King was pushed into the spotlight by his peers. Rosa pushed herself. They
both experienced the power of a push. It’s a moment when your instincts, values,
and goals align, and you move so quickly you don’t have time or a valid reason to
stop yourself.
Your heart speaks and you don’t think, you listen to what your heart tells you to
do. Greatness is not a personality trait. It’s inside all of us and sometimes it’s hard
for us to see it. Mrs. Parks was described by all who knew her as quiet and shy, and
Dr. King famously struggled with self-doubt and fear in the beginning days of the
Civil Rights movement.
Reflecting back on the radio that night in 1956, Mrs. Parks said, “I hadn’t thought
I would be the person to do this, it hadn’t occurred to me.” It probably hasn’t occurred to
you either what great things you might be capable of achieving at work and in your
lifetime. Her example shows us that we are all more than capable of finding the
courage to “act out of character” when the moment matters.
It is true, as Rosa Parks explained on air in that 1956 interview, that she was
pushed “as far as I could stand to be pushed” by a system of discrimination. But in that
singular moment, she was pushed forward by something way more powerful:
herself.