45 years and what have we learned?

You know how as you grow *older* you acquire certain tastes that you couldn't have imagined even a few years back? For some, it might be scotch (the first thing I ever heard called "an acquired taste," as suggested by dear ol' dad when I was maybe 12 or 13 and thought it smelled like jet propellant; thankfully, I learned better). Others it might be a particular food, or sport or activity.

For me of course, my acquired tastes have also included an exponential broadening of musical likes. One such example strikes me today. When U2 first exploded onto the pop scene, I wasn't such a huge fan. Sure, I had friends who adored this band from the beginning, even stylized their look around Bono's hair (JP) and the Edge's hat, if not his playing...

As I've grown, I've come to enjoy the poetry of their lyrics, which eluded me earlier (as well as a better understanding of their emotional musicality). And then there's today, a significant date that often goes unnoticed, which U2 has actually preserved, immortalized:

Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

On this 45th anniversary of the assassination of MLK, look around at our society, our world. If we are honest with ourselves, we note that even as the years have progressed beyond that moment in time, we face the same problems, issues and challenges that plagued the world "way back in the 60s", as in every era. It's been 45 years, and I ask, what have we learned? More significantly - what are we going to do about it?