Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. seemed to live his life in a hurry, said Will Gunn, general counsel to the Department of Veterans Affairs and guest speaker at Marine Corps Base Quantico’s Martin Luther King Day observance.

The son of a pastor, King told his mother when he was a child that he wanted to strike a blow at racism, Gunn told the audience gathered at the Marine Corps Memorial Chapel on Jan. 30, 2014. He skipped the ninth and 12th grades and was attending college by age 15. At 25, he earned his doctorate in theology and was already the pastor of a Baptist church.

If he hadn’t become a pastor at that young age, he would not likely have been in a position to lead the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott later that year, 1955.

As the boycott movement got underway in the days following Rosa Parks’ refusal to leave her seat, the local pastors looked to King for leadership.

"People tell me it’s often difficult for pastors to agree on almost anything," Gunn said. "But for whatever reason, they turned to this young, eloquent speaker."

It was the beginning of his career. In the next dozen years, King became an international civil rights leader.

It was not just his powerful oratory that raised him to that position, though, Gunn said. He was a tactician for the movement and a warrior on its front lines. "He was there, putting his life on the line again and again."

In that spirit, he said, Martin Luther King Day should not be just a day to shop and watch television. "Instead, we should use it as a day of service, because that’s what Dr. King was in his heart, in his essence."

He noted that King’s most famous speech ended up being the "I Have a Dream" speech he delivered during the 1963 March on Washington. "I think what Dr. King has called on all of us to do is to dream big dreams and act on those," Gunn said.

In that theme, he left his audience with an acrostic he invented, "BIG DREAMS," as follows.

Begin: Too often people talk about what they’re going to do at some point in the future, Gunn said.

Integrity: "If you’re living a life of integrity, that means what you say is what you do," he said, noting that King embodied this virtue.

God-focused and giver: The youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize at the time, King kept none of the prize money, Gunn said. "He said every penny would be dedicated to the movement, and that’s what he did. He gave away all of that $54,000."

Determined: King lived the spirit of the freedom song, "Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ’Round," never quitting when situations got difficult.

Ready: King took up leadership of the civil rights movement because he was prepared to do so when it began.

Excellence: Gunn noted that King once said, "If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry." Act: "Be willing to act, not merely to talk," Gunn said. "As we’re becoming, be." Me: One needs to look to one’s self, rather than waiting for someone else. Service: "Anyone can be great because anyone can serve," Gunn said, relating the story of the older man who encountered a younger man throwing starfi sh into the sea after thousands of them had been washed ashore by a storm. "Displaying his wisdom, his knowledge of the ways of the world," Gunn said, the older man told the younger there were too many starfi sh for him to make a difference. The young man tossed another starfi sh into the surf, saying, "I made a difference for that one." "Regardless of what you do, regardless of the calling that you perceive, make a difference for one, then another, and then another," Gunn said. That’s the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King." Col. David Maxwell, base commander, said in his high school days, he didn’t fully comprehend the signifi cance of signs grant- ing access based on skin color, or how the "Dream" speech served as a rallying cry and brought hope to so many. Now, he said, "Looking back over my Marine Corps career, I’m able to see the beauty of a dream that’s starting to be realized." Noting that Gunn has served as chairman of the American Bar Association Commis- sion on Youth at Risk, chief executive of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, and a board member of the Christian Ser- vice Charities, Maxwell said, "His career is truly a career that’s been one in service." — Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com