You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be.

And one day, some great moment stands before you and calls you to stand up for some great truth, some great issue, some great cause.

And you refuse to do it for you are afraid.

You refuse to do it for you want to live longer.

You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be run down or that you will lose your status, or you’re afraid that one may stab you, or shoot at you or bomb your house; so you refuse to take the stand.

Well, you may go on and live until you are 90, but you’re just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90.

And the end of breath in your life is but the late signal of an earlier death of the spirit.

—MLK, Jr.