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HomeCommentaryClarksville Mayor Kim McMillan's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day message

Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day message

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ “? Martin Luther King Jr.

City of Clarksville - Clarksville, TNClarksville, TN – Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan shares this message in celebration of the birth of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:

Around this national holiday, as a community, we pause to reflect on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King had a special insight and ability to cut to the heart of the matter, and many of the words he spoke more than four decades ago ring true today.

Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan
Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan

One of my favorite quotes of his is this: “An individual has not started living fully until they can rise above the narrow confines of individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of humanity. Every person must decide, at some point, whether they will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ ”

Public service is the career I chose in large part because I wanted to contribute to the lives of others. I decided I wanted to answer Dr. King’s question in the affirmative, and I work every day to “walk in the light of creative altruism.”

It is an honor to have served the people of Clarksville for more than 22 years, and I am still filled with joy and purpose as we continue to work side-by-side. I long ago concluded that there is no other community with the heart, grace and soul of Clarksville. The big reason for this feeling is, of course, the wonderful people who live here and help make Clarksville such a compelling city.

Our community is great because so many of our citizens – teachers, police officers, bankers, doctors, mechanics, soldiers – do what they can to be of service to our community.

Clarksville is great because through their service, so many or our citizens are living fully and rising to the “broader concerns of humanity.”

If it is possible to be both proud and humbled, I am. I am proud of our City and what we are accomplishing together and humbled by the confidence citizens place in me every day as Mayor. I am excited about what we can accomplish together today, tomorrow and into our future.

I invite you to join me in remembering the life of Dr. King, and I thank each of you for joining in the “doing for others” that makes Clarksville the best City in which to live, work and raise our families.  

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