The dictionary defines a hero as "a person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life." Martin Luther King Jr. was only 29 when he said: "Human progress is neither automatic or inevitable. No social advance rolls in on the wheels of inevitability.  Every step requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle, the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals." Later he said: "Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It cuts without wounding, and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.  We will never have peace in the world until men everywhere recognize that ends are not cut off from the means, because the means represent the end in process, and ultimately you cannot reach good ends through evil means, because the means represent the seed and the end represents the tree." Martin Luther King Jr. devoted his too-short life to bringing us closer to a more compassionate and just world where, in his words, people would be judged, not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character. The night before he was killed he uttered these prophetic words: "We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter to me now because I’ve been to the mountaintop. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain, and . . . I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as people, will get to the Promised Land. And I’m happy tonight. I’m not fearing any man."