Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., had he lived, would have been 85 years old this year.

Like the recently deceased South African leader Nelson Mandela, King supported love, peace and change, not violence. He was a man of our times who chose to turn the other cheek.

King, like most leaders who have appeared at those times when peoples of the world needed a person who could make sense of injustice, was not a perfect man. He was a human being. According to reports after his death, he was a man who actually had warts. He did not walk on water.

But he had a driving passion to correct a wrong, and he was given by God a special talent to convey that passion in a way that would not tear down the fabric of our society, but would restore it.

As with many leaders who, since the beginning of time have appeared on this Earth at just the right time, he was gone before the dream he painted so vividly came to life.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy on what would have been his 85th birthday is not that he was a perfect man, but that he overcame his imperfections to lead a mighty nation to the reality that all men are truly created equal regardless of color or creed.

We could use another Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. right now, a leader who could overcome his imperfections and through his words and actions help to bind up the deep wounds that affect our nation.