If I can help somebody as I pass along, If I can cheer somebody with a word or song, If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong, Then my living will not be in vain. If I can do my duty as a Christian ought, If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought, If I can spread the message as the master taught, Then my living will not be in vain. Adapted from The Historic "Drum Major Instinct Speech", delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, on 4 February 1968.