Since I’ve returned home from traveling, several people have asked me to identify my favorite highlight. The experience which had the biggest impact on me was my visit to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

It happened by chance.

I was trying to get a good picture of the Atlanta skyline, so I parked my car at a gas station near a freeway overpass and took a photo.

Not exactly the shot I was looking for, but the photo does provide a nice view of Atlanta’s rush hour traffic.

A guy at the gas station told me there was a really good view of the city on the Northeast side of town, and he told me how to get there. So I drove across town and looked for a place to park my car. By way of happenstance, I parked my car in the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site parking lot. I walked a few hundred yards to a spot where I could see the skyline, and took a photo.

This is more like what I had in mind when I set out to take a photo of Atlanta’s skyline.

Having successfully photographed the Atlanta skyline, I went to the Memorial Center at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site and spent some time checking out the exhibits.

It was a nice enough building, and there was a church attached to it. But there was nothing particularly awe-inspiring about the architecture and design. Inside the building, there were only a couple of small, simple exhibits.

I didn’t previously know much about Reverend King. I had of course seen clips of his “I Have a Dream” speech, and I knew that he was the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, but that was about the extent of my familiarity with his life. Oh, and I knew that he had studied Gandhi’s teachings on nonviolence.

As I was walking into the Memorial Center I didn’t know what to expect. But when I walked out two hours later, I was overwhelmed with emotion.

As I walked around the MLK Memorial Center, I read the quotes on the walls, watched video clips, and learned about the Civil Rights Movement. I discovered that Martin Luther King, Jr.’s teachings extended far beyond his dream of racial equality.

He taught about poverty and economic development, nonviolence and peace. He taught about faith and religion and social progress. His sermons and speeches emphasized proactive resistance rooted in love, rather than reactive demonstration rooted in violence.

Following are some photos and quotes from the exhibits.

King’s Bible.

King’s cufflinks and cologne.

In many ways Reverend King was ahead of his time. Much of what he said is as relevant today as it was forty to fifty years ago.

One of my favorite MLK quotes comes from a book of excerpts which I purchased at the gift shop. It is a statement about the relationship between science and religion, a topic that remains as important today as ever:

“Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. They are complimentary. Science keeps religion from sinking into the valley of crippling irrationalism and paralyzing obscurantism. Religion prevents science from falling into the marsh of obsolete materialism and moral nihilism.”

I was also deeply impacted by Reverend King’s teachings regarding nonviolence, which are strikingly similar to the philosophies of Mohandas Gandhi. On this topic, King said:

“One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.”

Most surprisingly to me, when King spoke about economic development more than forty years ago, he understood the important role that population growth plays in causing poverty. He said:

“Most of the Western nations were relatively underpopulated when they surged forward economically, and they were greatly endowed with the iron ore and coal that were needed for launching industry. Most of the young governments of the world today have come into being without these advantages, and, above all, they confront staggering problems of overpopulation. There is no possible way for them to make it without aid and assistance.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. is a hero to me, not only because he helped to desegregate the south, but because he had a deep understanding of the most important problems facing the world. He consistently promoted economic development in the United States and the rest of the world. He was a champion of peace.

Across the street from the Memorial Center there were more points of interest.

This is Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King attended and preached throughout his life.

An Ethiopian priest stands in front of the the tomb of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King.

Below I have included a video clip of the conclusion of MLK’s final speech, given just over forty years ago, on April 3rd, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. When King traveled to Memphis a few days earlier, his flight was delayed due to a bomb threat. It was one of many threats and attempts made against King’s life over the years.

In response to concerns over his safety, King gave the following speech. The next day he was assassinated.