The Desirability of Being Maladjusted

"The Desirability of Being Maladjusted" was the title of a talk Martin Luther King gave at Beth Emet Synagogue in Evanston, Illinois in 1958 (see here for my very slight personal connection to this). I couldn't find the text of the speech online (and how odd it is that I've come to expect almost-instant, almost-effortless access to any words anyone has ever written), but here's a clip from nine years later where he hits the same theme.



Someone pointed out to me that this may not be a good time to speak of the virtues of maladjustment, given current events. But there's a big difference between the creative maladjustment that King was speaking of and the other kind. Truthfully, any improvement at all in the human condition has to come from the maladjusted, since everyone else is willing to accept things as they are.