While not as famous as his “I have a dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave another speech almost 60 years ago that, while not as well known, was also important. It is also practical for us today as we commemorate the birthday of Dr. King. The speech started with the question, “What is your life’s blueprint?”
Dr. King asked that question in a speech to the students of Barratt Junior High in Philadelphia in 1967. The speech was given less than a year from the time he would be assassinated in 1968. In the speech, I believe Dr. King was trying to get those young students to think about their future and the foundation that they were laying for it, even at that young age.
Dr. King told those students, “Whenever a building is constructed, you usually have an architect who draws a blueprint, and that blueprint serves as the pattern, as the guide, and a building is not well erected without a good, solid blueprint. Now each of you is in the process of building the structure of your lives, and the question is whether you have a proper, a solid and a sound blueprint.”
In the speech, he emphasizes that a vital part of that blueprint is doing your best in whatever you do. It seems like that message has been often lost in today’s working world. It makes it even more noticeable when you see someone out there doing their best.
While working a few months ago, we stopped at an out of town fast food restaurant for lunch. The lady behind the counter, who was probably a shift manager, was friendly and efficient. She was busy taking orders and getting our trays of burgers, fries, and all of the other healthy foods to us customers. When she sat my tray down on the counter she noticed something.
“Those fries aren’t warm. Let me get you some hot ones.” She threw out those fries and quickly went back and grabbed me some that had just come out. Yes, it was a little thing, but she didn’t have to do that. But warm fries are a whole lot better than cold ones, and I appreciated it, and told her so.
It’s called doing your best at whatever you do. And usually it’s the little things that really show it. It’s staying a little later or getting there a little earlier. It’s noticing a little something that needs to be done, then doing it. It’s helping someone else complete their task, even if it’s not in your job description. (By the way, it’s probably in your job description. At the bottom, a good job description usually states, “Other duties as assigned.” Yep, it’s probably there.)
Doing your best means doing your best even when the boss isn’t looking or around. Because the real Boss is always around. The Apostle Paul referenced this very thing when he wrote, “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.” (Col. 3:23)
Almost 2,000 years later, Dr. King echoed that same exhortation to those young students. And it’s an admonition for us today, no matter our age or whatever we do daily. Remember, it’s “Whatever you do.”
In the speech, Dr. King said, “Don’t just set out to do a good job. Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn’t do it any better. If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera, sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’”
And we can be grateful that Dr. King also did his job well.