Your life is not that hard. Not compared to this. In 1756, Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped from his home in Nigeria. He was forced to walk several hundred miles in shackles and sold from one trader to the next. Then came the horrifying Middle Passage across the Atlantic.

On the day when we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., I wonder if the violence will ever be different in your lifetime? Maybe, or maybe not, and either way, it doesn’t change the kind of man I want you to be.