Start With Why

they
believed. It was 
what
they
saw as an opportunity to help America become a better 
version of itself. It was
they
who wanted to live in a country that 
reflected their own values and beliefs that inspired them to get on a 
bus to travel for eight hours to stand in the Washington sun in the 
middle of August to hear Dr. King speak. Being in Washington was 
simply one of the things they did to prove what they believed. 
Showing up that day was one of the WHATs to their own WHY. 
This was a cause and it was their cause.
Dr. King's speech itself served as a visceral reminder of the belief 
shared by everyone who stood there listening. And that speech was 
about what he believed, not how they were going to do it. He gave 
the "I Have a Dream" speech, not the "I Have a Plan" speech. It was 
a statement of purpose and not a comprehensive twelve- point plan 
to achieving civil rights in America. Dr. King offered America a 
place to go, not a plan to follow. The plan had its place, but not on 
the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Dr. King's articulation of his belief was something powerful 
enough to rally those who shared that belief even if they weren't 
personally affected by the inequalities. Nearly a quarter of the peo-
ple who came to the rally that day were white. This was a belief not 
about black America, this was a belief about a shared America. Dr. 

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143 
King was the leader of a cause. A cause for all those who believed 
what he believed regardless of skin color.
It wasn't the details of his plans that earned him the right to lead. 
It was what he believed and his ability to communicate it clearly 
that people followed. In essence, he, like all great leaders, became 
the symbol of the belief. Dr. King came to personify the cause. To 
this day we build statues of him to keep that belief alive and 
tangible. People followed him not because of his idea of a changed 
America. People followed him because of
their
idea of a changed 
America. The part of the brain that influences our behavior and 
decisions does not have the capacity for language. We have trouble 
saying clearly, in emotional terms, why we do what we do, and 
offer rationalizations that, though valid and true, are not powerful 
enough to inspire others. So when asked why they showed up that 
day, people pointed to Dr. King and said simply, "Because I 
believe."
More than anything else, what Martin Luther King Jr. gave us 
was clarity, a way to explain how we felt. He gave us the words that 
inspired us. He gave us something to believe in, something we 
could easily share with our friends. Everyone at the Mall that day 
shared a set of values and beliefs. And everyone there that day, re-
gardless of skin color or race or sex, trusted each other. It was that 
trust, that common bond, that shared belief that fueled a movement 
that would change a nation.
We believed.
We believed.
We believed 

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. 

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