[Speech: Martin Luther King Jr.]
Remaining awake, through a great revolution
Behold I make all things new
Former things are passed away

I'm sure that you have read that little story from the pen of Washington Irving entitled Rip Van Winkle

There was a sign in the inn

Rip Van Winkle went up in the mountain

The sign had a picture of King George III of England
When he came down 20 years later the sign had a picture of George Washington, the first President of the Unitеd States

Rip Van Winkle looked up at thе picture of George Washington and looking at the picture, he was amazed

He was completely lost, he knew not who he was

This reveals to us that the most striking thing about the story of Rip Van Winkle is not merely that Rip slept 20 years
But that he slept through a revolution
While he was peacefully snoring up in the mountain
A revolution was taking place that at points would change the course of history
And Rip Van Winkle knew nothing about it; he was asleep

One of the great liabilities of life
Is that all too many people find themselves living amid a great period of social change, yet they fail to develop the new attitudes, new mental responses that the new situation demands
They end up sleeping through a revolution

There can be no gainsaying of the fact that a great revolution is taking place in the world today

In a sense, it is a triple revolution
That is a technological revolution with the impact of automation and cybernation
And that is a revolution in weaponry with the emergence of atomic and nuclear weapons of warfare
And that is a human rights revolution with the freedom explosion that is taking place all over the world

Yes, we do live in a period where changes are taking place
That is still the voice crying through the vista of time saying
"Behold I make all things new, former things are passed away"