Martin Luther King’s Birthday

Had he not been cut down by an assassin’s bullet in 1968, Martin Luther King would have been 83 this week.

For those of us old enough to remember, MLK was in his prime when this nation was racially divided, blacks against whites, gender divided, men against women, age divided, old against young, divided with rich against poor and divided by the politics of war by those in favor of the Vietnam conflict and the rising wave of those against it.

When MLK died, the nation was alive with a social revolution and radical ideas about where this nation ought to go abounded.

When he was born, he came of age in a racist society.

One thing is clear after all these years – the non-violent war against racial bigotry MLK began back in the 1950’s and which coalesced in the 1960’s helped to give shape and form to our society today – a society racially mixed but largely at ease with itself despite the lingering difficulties of bridging the race gap by all of us no matter what color we are or what nation we come from or what religion we practice.

How we are as a nation today is what counts and when it mattered, when nearly everything about American democracy and our political and legal justice system was hanging in the balance, MLK’s efforts against racism changed the nation.

We recall with dignity and honor the memory of Martin Luther King on the occasion of his birthday.

Opera lovers should not despair

Many Beacon Hill resident have a knowledge of and a taste for opera. And so the news of Opera Boston’s closing due to insurmountable financial needs was met with shock and disbelief by opera lovers throughout the city.

Even Mayor Menino expressed surprise and disappointment that Opera Boston shut down rather than come to him for help.

Boston’s opera lovers and aficionados needn’t despair. They have the Boston Lyric Opera which celebrates 35 seasons of opera with the 2012 opera year which is now upon us.

In November, 2011, the BLO completed a record fundraising year with $5 million raised.

If you have not attended the BLO and you have a taste for opera, we urge you to avail yourselves of  the BLO’s artistically excellent productions that entertain in the best tradition of stage opera.

For audience services, call 617-542-6772 or e-mail: [email protected].

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