Jan. 19 – Below is an excerpt of the address by Brian Wofford at today’s MLK Jr. Day celebration at the Cain Center for the Arts. The event was held by the Cornelius Parks & Recreation department.

It’s an honor to be with you today. To pause, reflect, and celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This day is more than a holiday. It is a call to reflection, and a call to action.

Usually, on this day, we look back to 1963, to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. We recite the Dream. We celebrate how far we have come. But today, I want us to do something different, harder. I want us to look forward. I want us to wrestle with a question Dr. King posed to the nation just one year before his death.

In 1967, secluded in a rented house in Jamaica, away from the noise of the movement, Dr. King wrote his final book. And he titled it with a question: “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” He wasn’t asking a rhetorical question. You see, He was looking at a nation fractured by war, by poverty, and by a persistent refusal to treat all people with dignity. He saw that we stood at
a crossroads.

That question is not just for history books. It feels just as urgent now as it did then. Because while the world looks different, the crossroads are the same. Our neighborhoods, our schools, our businesses, and our families will be shaped by the choices
we make together. So we have a choice. Do we turn inward, or do we reach out? Do we settle for the noise around us, or do we build something better, together?

When Dr. King spoke of chaos, I don’t believe he was only talking about civil unrest or open conflict. I believe he was also talking about the breakdown of connection. Chaos shows up when fear, frustration, and fatigue make it easier to turn away from one
another. For example, it looks like loneliness, isolation, neighbors stop talking, fear replaces trust. We
find ourselves living side by side but not truly together.

Dr. King never lost faith in the human spirit. And neither can we. He believed the answer to chaos was not control, it was community, connection, shared responsibility. The belief that our differences are not barriers, they are bridges. Lake Norman is growing rapidly. Growth brings opportunity but it also brings complexity.

Traffic, housing, education and access to Healthcare These challenges are real. But they are not insurmountable if we choose to face them, together. Because community is not just people sharing a place. It is people sharing a purpose. Dr. King wrote in his Letter from Birmingham Jail: “We are all tied together in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” That’s more than poetic, it’s practical.

When one family struggles, the ripple touches every street, every school, every workplace. And when one person finds health, hope, or healing… that ripple reaches us too. You see community isn’t abstract. It’s visible in the way we show up for one another. You can see it in the volunteer tutoring a child after school. In the business owner hiring locally and investing in workforce development. In the faith leader opening doors for dialogue. In the healthcare team treating every patient with dignity regardless of circumstance. That is what Dr. King called the beloved community; built not on sameness, but on care.

…

The last few years have tested us all. A pandemic, uncertainty, loss, change. And yet, we’ve also seen the very best of this community. Meals dropped off, teachers adapting lessons overnight, healthcare workers staying long after shifts ended. Those moments remind me that hope also happens well beyond the walls of our hospitals. It happens in our homes, our schools, our churches. It happens every time someone chooses empathy over anger. That is the kind of strength Dr. King believed in. Not the strength to win, but the strength to care.

We all know the world feels divided. It’s easy to see what separates us. Harder to see what still holds us together. Dr. King reminded us progress is never automatic. It requires intention, courage, and partnership. And still, I believe we have more in common than we sometimes admit. We believe in hard work, decency, faith, family, and in helping a neighbor who’s struggling. Dr. King didn’t ask us to think alike, he asked us to love alike. And love, to him, wasn’t just sentimental. It was action, service, courage.

So, when we ask, “Where do we go from here?” Maybe the first step is simple. We show up. We show up with opportunity: ensuring every child has access to education and every family has access to healthcare. We show up with engagement: neighbors voting, volunteering, and shaping our shared future. We show up with collaboration: businesses, nonprofits, and local government working together. And we show up with relationships that cross lines: because community is stronger than
division.

Dr. King said, “The ultimate measure of a person is not where they stand in moments of comfort, but where they stand at times of challenge.” I tell my daughters, and I’ll say it to you today. Each of us, in our own way, is a leader. Whether you manage a team, raise a family, coach a sport, or volunteer after work… Someone is watching how you handle challenges. So, what kind of leaders will we be? Those who add to the noise, or calm it? Who build walls, or bridges? Who wait for change, or create it? The answer to chaos isn’t found in my speech, books, or slogans. It’s found in small, steady acts that remind people they are not alone.

In the final chapter of his book, Dr. King tells a story. After a famous novelist died, a note was found within his papers. It read: “A widely separated family inherits a house in which they must live together.” Dr. King said, that is our story. We have inherited a great house; a World House. And we must learn to live in it together. We have inherited a house right here in Lake Norman. It’s a beautiful house. But a house is not a home, it is the people inside it and what we do that make it a home.

So, where do we go from here? We reject the chaos of selfishness. We reject the chaos of indifference. We go forward, together. We go forward seeing neighbors not as strangers, but as fellow travelers. We choose hope over cynicism. Grace over blame. And we remember: community is not given. It is built. So let us choose community over chaos in how we speak to each other, how we solve
problems, and how we invest in the next generation.

Let us show up because presence matters. Let us lift those who are struggling, those who are new, those who need a hand. You see, these aren’t grand gestures. They are daily choices. Dr. King said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” But it does not bend by itself. It bends when we pull it with our hands, our hearts, and our willingness to serve.

So today, let us commit to be builders of community. To be healers of body and spirit. To believe, deeply, that the light within us is still stronger than the chaos around us.

Thank you for being part of his vision. Thank you for choosing community over chaos. And thank you for believing that the future is ours to shape, if we shape it together.

Wofford is president of Atrium Health Lake Norman.