The Drum
Major Instinct
This morning I would like to use as a
subject from which to preach: "The Drum Major
Instinct." "The Drum Major Instinct."
And our text for the morning is taken from a very
familiar passage in the tenth chapter as recorded by
Saint Mark. Beginning with the thirty-fifth verse of
that chapter, we read these words: "And James
and John, the sons of Zebedee, came unto him saying,
‘Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us
whatsoever we shall desire.’ And he said unto
them, ‘What would ye that I should do for you?’
And they said unto him, ‘Grant unto us that we may
sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy
left hand, in thy glory.’ But Jesus said unto
them, ‘Ye know not what ye ask: Can ye drink of
the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the
baptism that I am baptized with?’ And they said
unto him, ‘We can.’ And Jesus said unto them,
‘Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of,
and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall
ye be baptized: but to sit on my right hand and on
my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be
given to them for whom it is prepared.’" And
then Jesus goes on toward the end of that passage to
say, "But so shall it not be among you: but
whosoever will be great among you, shall be your
servant: and whosoever of you will be the chiefest,
shall be servant of all."
The setting is clear. James and John are making a
specific request of the master. They had dreamed, as
most of the Hebrews dreamed, of a coming king of
Israel who would set Jerusalem free and establish
his kingdom on Mount Zion, and in righteousness rule
the world. And they thought of Jesus as this kind of
king. And they were thinking of that day when Jesus
would reign supreme as this new king of Israel. And
they were saying, "Now when you establish your
kingdom, let one of us sit on the right hand and the
other on the left hand of your throne."
Now very quickly, we would automatically condemn
James and John, and we would say they were selfish.
Why would they make such a selfish request? But
before we condemn them too quickly, let us look
calmly and honestly at ourselves, and we will
discover that we too have those same basic desires
for recognition, for importance. That same desire
for attention, that same desire to be first. Of
course, the other disciples got mad with James and
John, and you could understand why, but we must
understand that we have some of the same James and
John qualities. And there is deep down within all of
us an instinct. It's a kind of drum major
instinct—a desire to be out front, a desire to
lead the parade, a desire to be first. And it is
something that runs the whole gamut of life.
And so before we condemn them, let us see that we
all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be
important, to surpass others, to achieve
distinction, to lead the parade. Alfred Adler, the
great psychoanalyst, contends that this is the
dominant impulse. Sigmund Freud used to contend that
sex was the dominant impulse, and Adler came with a
new argument saying that this quest for recognition,
this desire for attention, this desire for
distinction is the basic impulse, the basic drive of
human life, this drum major instinct.
And you know, we begin early to ask life to put
us first. Our first cry as a baby was a bid for
attention. And all through childhood the drum major
impulse or instinct is a major obsession. Children
ask life to grant them first place. They are a
little bundle of ego. And they have innately the
drum major impulse or the drum major instinct.
Now in adult life, we still have it, and we
really never get by it. We like to do something
good. And you know, we like to be praised for it.
Now if you don't believe that, you just go on living
life, and you will discover very soon that you like
to be praised. Everybody likes it, as a matter of
fact. And somehow this warm glow we feel when we are
praised or when our name is in print is something of
the vitamin A to our ego. Nobody is unhappy when
they are praised, even if they know they don't
deserve it and even if they don't believe it. The
only unhappy people about praise is when that praise
is going too much toward somebody else. (That’s
right) But everybody likes to be praised because
of this real drum major instinct.
Now the presence of the drum major instinct is
why so many people are "joiners." You
know, there are some people who just join
everything. And it's really a quest for attention
and recognition and importance. And they get names
that give them that impression. So you get your
groups, and they become the "Grand
Patron," and the little fellow who is henpecked
at home needs a chance to be the "Most Worthy
of the Most Worthy" of something. It is the
drum major impulse and longing that runs the gamut
of human life. And so we see it everywhere, this
quest for recognition. And we join things, over join
really, that we think that we will find that
recognition in.
Now the presence of this instinct explains why we
are so often taken by advertisers. You know, those
gentlemen of massive verbal persuasion. And they
have a way of saying things to you that kind of gets
you into buying. In order to be a man of
distinction, you must drink this whiskey. In order
to make your neighbors envious, you must drive this
type of car. (Make it plain) In order to be
lovely to love you must wear this kind of lipstick
or this kind of perfume. And you know, before you
know it, you're just buying that stuff. (Yes)
That's the way the advertisers do it.
I got a letter the other day, and it was a new
magazine coming out. And it opened up, "Dear
Dr. King: As you know, you are on many mailing
lists. And you are categorized as highly
intelligent, progressive, a lover of the arts and
the sciences, and I know you will want to read what
I have to say." Of course I did. After you said
all of that and explained me so exactly, of course I
wanted to read it. [laughter]
But very seriously, it goes through life; the
drum major instinct is real. (Yes) And you
know what else it causes to happen? It often causes
us to live above our means. (Make it plain)
It's nothing but the drum major instinct. Do you
ever see people buy cars that they can't even begin
to buy in terms of their income? (Amen) [laughter]
You've seen people riding around in Cadillac's and
Chryslers who don't earn enough to have a good
T-Model Ford. (Make it plain) But it feeds a
repressed ego.
You know, economists tell us that your automobile
should not cost more than half of your annual
income. So if you make an income of five thousand
dollars, your car shouldn't cost more than about
twenty-five hundred. That's just good economics. And
if it's a family of two, and both members of the
family make ten thousand dollars, they would have to
make out with one car. That would be good economics,
although it's often inconvenient. But so often,
haven't you seen people making five thousand dollars
a year and driving a car that costs six thousand?
And they wonder why their ends never meet. [laughter]
That's a fact.
Now the economists also say that your house
shouldn't cost—if you're buying a house, it
shouldn't cost more than twice your income. That's
based on the economy and how you would make ends
meet. So, if you have an income of five thousand
dollars, it's kind of difficult in this society. But
say it's a family with an income of ten thousand
dollars, the house shouldn't cost much more than
twenty thousand. Well, I've seen folk making ten
thousand dollars, living in a forty- and
fifty-thousand-dollar house. And you know they just
barely make it. They get a check every month
somewhere, and they owe all of that out before it
comes in. Never have anything to put away for rainy
days.
But now the problem is, it is the drum major
instinct. And you know, you see people over and over
again with the drum major instinct taking them over.
And they just live their lives trying to outdo the
Joneses. (Amen) They got to get this coat
because this particular coat is a little better and
a little better-looking than Mary's coat. And I got
to drive this car because it's something about this
car that makes my car a little better than my
neighbor's car. (Amen) I know a man who used
to live in a thirty-five-thousand-dollar house. And
other people started building
thirty-five-thousand-dollar houses, so he built a
seventy-five-thousand-dollar house. And then
somebody else built a seventy-five-thousand-dollar
house, and he built a hundred-thousand-dollar house.
And I don't know where he's going to end up if he's
going to live his life trying to keep up with the
Joneses.
There comes a time that the drum major instinct
can become destructive. (Make it plain) And
that's where I want to move now. I want to move to
the point of saying that if this instinct is not
harnessed, it becomes a very dangerous, pernicious
instinct. For instance, if it isn’t harnessed, it
causes one's personality to become distorted. I
guess that's the most damaging aspect of it: what it
does to the personality. If it isn't harnessed, you
will end up day in and day out trying to deal with
your ego problem by boasting. Have you ever heard
people that—you know, and I'm sure you've met
them—that really become sickening because they
just sit up all the time talking about themselves. (Amen)
And they just boast and boast and boast, and that's
the person who has not harnessed the drum major
instinct.
And then it does other things to the personality.
It causes you to lie about who you know sometimes. (Amen,
Make it plain) There are some people who are
influence peddlers. And in their attempt to deal
with the drum major instinct, they have to try to
identify with the so-called big-name people. (Yeah,
Make it plain) And if you're not careful, they
will make you think they know somebody that they
don't really know. (Amen) They know them
well, they sip tea with them, and they
this-and-that. That happens to people.
And the other thing is that it causes one to
engage ultimately in activities that are merely used
to get attention. Criminologists tell us that some
people are driven to crime because of this drum
major instinct. They don't feel that they are
getting enough attention through the normal channels
of social behavior, and so they turn to anti-social
behavior in order to get attention, in order to feel
important. (Yeah) And so they get that gun,
and before they know it they robbed a bank in a
quest for recognition, in a quest for importance.
And then the final great tragedy of the distorted
personality is the fact that when one fails to
harness this instinct, (Glory to God) he ends
up trying to push others down in order to push
himself up. (Amen) And whenever you do that,
you engage in some of the most vicious activities.
You will spread evil, vicious, lying gossip on
people, because you are trying to pull them down in
order to push yourself up. (Make it plain)
And the great issue of life is to harness the drum
major instinct.
Now the other problem is, when you don't harness
the drum major instinct—this uncontrolled aspect
of it—is that it leads to snobbish exclusivism.
It leads to snobbish exclusivism. (Make
it plain) And you know, this is the danger of
social clubs and fraternities—I'm in a fraternity;
I'm in two or three—for sororities and all of
these, I'm not talking against them. I'm saying it's
the danger. The danger is that they can become
forces of classism and exclusivism where somehow you
get a degree of satisfaction because you are in
something exclusive. And that's fulfilling
something, you know—that I'm in this fraternity,
and it's the best fraternity in the world, and
everybody can't get in this fraternity. So it ends
up, you know, a very exclusive kind of thing.
And you know, that can happen with the church; I
know churches get in that bind sometimes. (Amen,
Make it plain) I've been to churches, you know,
and they say, "We have so many doctors, and so
many school teachers, and so many lawyers, and so
many businessmen in our church." And that's
fine, because doctors need to go to church, and
lawyers, and businessmen, teachers—they ought to
be in church. But they say that—even the preacher
sometimes will go all through that—they say that
as if the other people don't count. (Amen)
And the church is the one place where a doctor
ought to forget that he's a doctor. The church is
the one place where a Ph.D. ought to forget that
he's a Ph.D. (Yes) The church is the one
place that the school teacher ought to forget the
degree she has behind her name. The church is the
one place where the lawyer ought to forget that he's
a lawyer. And any church that violates the
"whosoever will, let him come" doctrine is
a dead, cold church, (Yes) and nothing but a
little social club with a thin veneer of
religiosity.
When the church is true to its nature, (Who)
it says, "Whosoever will, let him come." (Yes)
And it does not supposed to satisfy the perverted
uses of the drum major instinct. It's the one place
where everybody should be the same, standing before
a common master and savior. (Yes, sir) And a
recognition grows out of this—that all men are
brothers because they are children (Yes) of a
common father.
The drum major instinct can lead to exclusivism
in one's thinking and can lead one to feel that
because he has some training, he's a little better
than that person who doesn't have it. Or because he
has some economic security, that he's a little
better than that person who doesn't have it. And
that's the uncontrolled, perverted use of the drum
major instinct.
Now the other thing is, that it leads to
tragic—and we've seen it happen so often—tragic
race prejudice. Many who have written about this
problem—Lillian Smith used to say it beautifully
in some of her books. And she would say it to the
point of getting men and women to see the source of
the problem. Do you know that a lot of the race
problem grows out of the drum major instinct? A need
that some people have to feel superior. A need that
some people have to feel that they are first, and to
feel that their white skin ordained them to be
first. (Make it plain, today, ‘cause I’m
against it, so help me God) And they have said
over and over again in ways that we see with our own
eyes. In fact, not too long ago, a man down in
Mississippi said that God was a charter member of
the White Citizens Council. and so God being the
charter member means that everybody who's in that
has a kind of divinity, a kind of superiority. And
think of what has happened in history as a result of
this perverted use of the drum major instinct. It
has led to the most tragic prejudice, the most
tragic expressions of man's inhumanity to man.
The other day I was saying, I always try to do a
little converting when I'm in jail. And when we were
in jail in Birmingham the other day, the white
wardens and all enjoyed coming around the cell to
talk about the race problem. And they were showing
us where we were so wrong demonstrating. And they
were showing us where segregation was so right. And
they were showing us where intermarriage was so
wrong. So I would get to preaching, and we would get
to talking—calmly, because they wanted to talk
about it. And then we got down one day to the
point—that was the second or third day—to talk
about where they lived, and how much they were
earning. And when those brothers told me what they
were earning, I said, "Now, you know what? You
ought to be marching with us. [laughter]
You're just as poor as Negroes." And I said,
"You are put in the position of supporting your
oppressor, because through prejudice and blindness,
you fail to see that the same forces that oppress
Negroes in American society oppress poor white
people. (Yes) And all you are living on is
the satisfaction of your skin being white, and the
drum major instinct of thinking that you are
somebody big because you are white. And you're so
poor you can't send your children to school. You
ought to be out here marching with every one of us
every time we have a march."
Now that's a fact. That the poor white has been
put into this position, where through blindness and
prejudice, (Make it plain) he is forced to
support his oppressors. And the only thing he has
going for him is the false feeling that he’s
superior because his skin is white—and can't
hardly eat and make his ends meet week in and week
out. (Amen)
And not only does this thing go into the racial
struggle, it goes into the struggle between nations.
And I would submit to you this morning that what
is wrong in the world today is that the nations of
the world are engaged in a bitter, colossal contest
for supremacy. And if something doesn't happen to
stop this trend, I'm sorely afraid that we won't be
here to talk about Jesus Christ and about God and
about brotherhood too many more years. (Yeah)
If somebody doesn't bring an end to this suicidal
thrust that we see in the world today, none of us
are going to be around, because somebody's going to
make the mistake through our senseless blunderings
of dropping a nuclear bomb somewhere. And then
another one is going to drop. And don't let anybody
fool you, this can happen within a matter of
seconds. (Amen) They have twenty-megaton
bombs in Russia right now that can destroy a city as
big as New York in three seconds, with everybody
wiped away, and every building. And we can do the
same thing to Russia and China.
But this is why we are drifting. And we are
drifting there because nations are caught up with
the drum major instinct. "I must be
first." "I must be supreme."
"Our nation must rule the world." (Preach
it) And I am sad to say that the nation in which
we live is the supreme culprit. And I'm going to
continue to say it to America, because I love this
country too much to see the drift that it has taken.
God didn't call America to do what she's doing in
the world now. (Preach it, preach it) God
didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust
war as the war in Vietnam. And we are criminals in
that war. We’ve committed more war crimes almost
than any nation in the world, and I'm going to
continue to say it. And we won't stop it because of
our pride and our arrogance as a nation.
But God has a way of even putting nations in
their place. (Amen) The God that I worship
has a way of saying, "Don't play with me."
(Yes) He has a way of saying, as the God of
the Old Testament used to say to the Hebrews,
"Don’t play with me, Israel. Don't play with
me, Babylon. (Yes) Be still and know that I'm
God. And if you don't stop your reckless course,
I'll rise up and break the backbone of your
power." (Yes) And that can happen to
America. (Yes) Every now and then I go back
and read Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire. And when I come and look at America, I
say to myself, the parallels are frightening. And we
have perverted the drum major instinct.
But let me rush on to my conclusion, because I
want you to see what Jesus was really saying. What
was the answer that Jesus gave these men? It's very
interesting. One would have thought that Jesus would
have condemned them. One would have thought that
Jesus would have said, "You are out of your
place. You are selfish. Why would you raise such a
question?"
But that isn't what Jesus did; he did something
altogether different. He said in substance,
"Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to
be great. You want to be important. You want to be
significant. Well, you ought to be. If you're going
to be my disciple, you must be." But he
reordered priorities. And he said, "Yes, don't
give up this instinct. It's a good instinct if you
use it right. (Yes) It's a good instinct if
you don't distort it and pervert it. Don't give it
up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep
feeling the need for being first. But I want you to
be first in love. (Amen) I want you to be
first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in
generosity. That is what I want you to do."
And he transformed the situation by giving a new
definition of greatness. And you know how he said
it? He said, "Now brethren, I can't give you
greatness. And really, I can't make you first."
This is what Jesus said to James and John. "You
must earn it. True greatness comes not by
favoritism, but by fitness. And the right hand and
the left are not mine to give, they belong to those
who are prepared." (Amen)
And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If
you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to
be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be
great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is
greatest among you shall be your servant. (Amen)
That's a new definition of greatness.
And this morning, the thing that I like about it:
by giving that definition of greatness, it means
that everybody can be great, (Everybody)
because everybody can serve. (Amen) You don't
have to have a college degree to serve. (All
right) You don't have to make your subject and
your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know
about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have
to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve.
You don't have to know the second theory of
thermodynamics in physics to serve. (Amen)
You only need a heart full of grace, (Yes, sir,
Amen) a soul generated by love. (Yes) And
you can be that servant.
I know a man—and I just want to talk about him
a minute, and maybe you will discover who I'm
talking about as I go down the way (Yeah)
because he was a great one. And he just went about
serving. He was born in an obscure village, (Yes,
sir) the child of a poor peasant woman. And then
he grew up in still another obscure village, where
he worked as a carpenter until he was thirty years
old. (Amen) Then for three years, he just got
on his feet, and he was an itinerant preacher. And
he went about doing some things. He didn't have
much. He never wrote a book. He never held an
office. He never had a family. (Yes) He never
owned a house. He never went to college. He never
visited a big city. He never went two hundred miles
from where he was born. He did none of the usual
things that the world would associate with
greatness. He had no credentials but himself.
He was only thirty-three when the tide of public
opinion turned against him. They called him a
rabble-rouser. They called him a troublemaker. They
said he was an agitator. (Glory to God) He
practiced civil disobedience; he broke injunctions.
And so he was turned over to his enemies and went
through the mockery of a trial. And the irony of it
all is that his friends turned him over to them. (Amen)
One of his closest friends denied him. Another of
his friends turned him over to his enemies. And
while he was dying, the people who killed him
gambled for his clothing, the only possession that
he had in the world. (Lord help him) When he
was dead he was buried in a borrowed tomb, through
the pity of a friend.
Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today
he stands as the most influential figure that ever
entered human history. All of the armies that ever
marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the
parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that
ever reigned put together (Yes) have not
affected the life of man on this earth (Amen)
as much as that one solitary life. His name may be a
familiar one. (Jesus) But today I can hear
them talking about him. Every now and then somebody
says, "He's King of Kings." (Yes)
And again I can hear somebody saying, "He's
Lord of Lords." Somewhere else I can hear
somebody saying, "In Christ there is no East
nor West." (Yes) And then they go on and
talk about, "In Him there's no North and South,
but one great Fellowship of Love throughout the
whole wide world." He didn't have anything. (Amen)
He just went around serving and doing good.
This morning, you can be on his right hand and
his left hand if you serve. (Amen) It's the
only way in.
Every now and then I guess we all think
realistically (Yes, sir) about that day when
we will be victimized with what is life's final
common denominator—that something that we call
death. We all think about it. And every now and then
I think about my own death and I think about my own
funeral. And I don't think of it in a morbid sense.
And every now and then I ask myself, "What is
it that I would want said?" And I leave the
word to you this morning.
If any of you are around when I have to meet my
day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get
somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to
talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I
wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to
mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that
isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I
have three or four hundred other awards—that’s
not important. Tell them not to mention where I went
to school. (Yes)
I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin
Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving
others. (Yes)
I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin
Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.
I want you to say that day that I tried to be
right on the war question. (Amen)
I want you to be able to say that day that I did
try to feed the hungry. (Yes)
And I want you to be able to say that day that I
did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)
I want you to say on that day that I did try in
my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)
I want you to say that I tried to love and serve
humanity. (Yes)
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major,
say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen)
Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes)
I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the
other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I
won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have
the fine and luxurious things of life to leave
behind. But I just want to leave a committed life
behind. (Amen) And that's all I want to say.
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.
Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your
left side, (Yes) not for any selfish reason.
I want to be on your right or your left side, not in
terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I
just want to be there in love and in justice and in
truth and in commitment to others, so that we can
make of this old world a new world.
Delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta,
Georgia, on 4 February 1968. MLKEC.
