One of the great figures in the march of human history, Martin Luther King Jr., like Jesus and Gandhi before him, lived by a heroic credo of nonviolence, a force of such moral and visceral power that it seared the emotional soul of the nation.

His weapon was not the sword but the conscience of man.

He lit the flame of freedom for a people oppressed, driven down -- and transformed the rage of injustice into a battlecry for the rights of man.

His non-violent moral revolution was waged on the highest plane of human dignity.

The dream was not assassinated.

The legacy of courage and hope remain.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that," stated Dr. Martin Luther King .

He was a noble warrior and we pay tribute, in the year of his 73rd birthday, to his noble passage.