That was the date when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus — and the rest is history.

Several months later, when bus segregation was ruled unconstitutional, Dr. Martin Luther King released this eloquent but deeply Christian advisory to people who had taken part in the historic bus boycott.

It reads, in part:

Pray for guidance and commit yourself to complete non-violence in word and action…

Be quiet but friendly; proud but not arrogant; joyous but not boisterous…

Be loving enough to absorb evil and understanding enough to turn an enemy into a friend…

This places upon all of us a tremendous responsibility of maintaining, in the face of what could be some unpleasantness, a calm and loving dignity befitting good citizens…

When was the last time an organization devoted to activism or civil disobedience preached so lovingly and intelligently the values of the gospel, without rancor or anger or a desire for vengeance?