MLK Day speaker urges Albany State University students to live a life of service

ALBANY — Albany State University held its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemoration Thursday, with speaker Kenneth Miller urging the gathered students to dedicate their lives to service toward their fellow men.

“Greatness is a servant,” Miller said. “Dr. King understood how we may all serve so that we all can be great. Service to others is the key to changing our world, but service involves significant sacrifice. Dr. King was just like you and I. He had the same doubts, the same insecurities we do. But he became an agent of change, and you can too.”

Miller said King did not choose the path he took, rather it was decided for him.

“Destiny chose Dr. King to lead the movement,” Miller said. “Even his good friend Ralph Abernathy was unsure if he was the right man to lead. And the question within us all is if you are challenged to be a leader, will you answer the call? It’s up to us. Can you hear the call to greatness?

“Never forget that Dr. King was just a man. Leadership is not easy and changing a society is not easy.”

The sacrifice of leadership, Miller said, exacts a price.

“You want to talk about sacrifice? Dr. King gave it all. Now it is up to you to make it a reality,” Miller said. “From this very room the world can be changed, and true leadership is how many other leaders you can create. Leave a committed life behind. Young people, don’t live in vain, live going forward. Surrender to serve.”

Miller, a retired U.S. Naval chaplain, is the chair of Leadership and Business Studies at Beulah Heights University in Atlanta.

Albany State President Art Dunning wrapped up the convocation, reminding the students that King was just 26 when the Movement began. “Not much older than many of you in this room,” Dunning added.

“The perception of Dr. King is that he was working in the interest of a select group of people,” Dunning said. “But that perception was untrue because he was really working for us all. Remember one man can change a nation and three men — Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela — changed the world.

“If there is an election, no matter how small or insignificant, go vote. Be vigilant and intent on learning because nothing sets you free like scholarship.”

The convocation was sponsored by the Velma Fudge Honors Program at Albany State.