Joy Miller

In 1968, in his last Sunday sermon at Washington National Cathedral, Dr. King retold the parable of the rich man, Dives, and the poor man, Lazarus, and reminded us that, "a man went to hell because he didn't see the poor."

"And this could happen to America, the richest nation in the world," he warned.

"There is nothing new about poverty," he said. "What is new is that we now have the means and the know-how to lift every child out of poverty. The real question is whether we have the will!"

So as we mark another anniversary of Dr. King's death, we should also remember how fortunate each and everyone of us is.

2008 marks the 40th anniversary of his Poor People's Campaign.

The Poor People's Campaign challenged our nation to end the poverty afflicting millions of Americans of all races and confront the entrenched triple evils of racism, excessive materialism (poverty) and militarism that threaten our nation and world.

In this rich nation of ours, in 2008, there are 36.5 million Americans still living in poverty, including nearly 13 million children. There are 47 million people in America who have no health coverage, and 9.4 million of those are children.