The only way we&8217;ll fully realize Martin Luther King Jr.&8217;s dream of progress and unity is to encourage and help each other along life&8217;s road.

That was the message speakers gave to the more than 30 children and teens &8212; and at least that many adults &8212; who attended a Saturday youth rally marking King&8217;s birthday.

The 10th annual event, held this year at Pilgrim Baptist Church, is sponsored by the local chapter of 100 Black Women.

But first, a seemingly unrelated question: What lessons had the youth learned from their parents? The answers varied from child to child, from &8220;how to cook&8221; to &8220;how to pray.&8221;

And, added the Rev. Edward Brown, founder of Positive Choices Counseling Servicesif you ask your parents to teach you about their youth, you&8217;ll find they didn&8217;t have as many freedoms as you enjoy.

He told the story of a local leader who, stopping at a restaurant as a child, was forced to eat with his family at a picnic table in a field behind a restaurant &8212; and use a nearby tree as a restroom &8212; because the main building was off limits to black people.

&8220;Ask your parents what it was like for them coming up,&8221; Brown said.

&8220;They couldn&8217;t just go into just any restaurant, use any restroom or water fountain.&8221;

His point was this: the parents and grandparents of today&8217;s black children were willing to die so everyone could use the same facilities and have the same opportunities.

And how does one thank them for being willing to make such a sacrifice? In addition to being the best person you can be, Brown said, &8220;it&8217;s in how you treat each other.&8221;

Trevonte Hill of Fayette, a junior at Alcorn State University, seconded that.

&8220;Those who fought from the end of the day to the very last second of their lives, did they do that so you could get caught up in gang violence and rob each other?&8221; Hill asked.

Instead, the way for today&8217;s youth to thank their forbears is to take responsibility for their actions, take pride in being children of God and lift up one another, Hill said.

Quoting a popular hymn, White asked participants to &8220;tell your neighbor &8216;I need you and you need me. We&8217;re all part of God&8217;s body &8230; I need you to survive.&8217;

&8220;We need the kind of pride that (doesn&8217;t) look down on each other, but that binds us together so that one cannot fall without the other,&8221; he added.

Steve Collins, decorated veteran and now a coach and math teacher at Ferriday High School, has felt firsthand what it means to have someone encourage you.

For him, that someone was Dorothy Oliver, a teacher who told him how much potential he possessed.

Collins said all he has accomplished, &8220;all of it is because somebody took the time&8221; to encourage him.

With that in mind, people should ask themselves every morning what they can do to advance their community, not just themselves &8212; in his words, &8220;What can I do for us today?&8221;

&8220;I can&8217;t get anywhere,&8221; he said.

&8220;But we can go anywhere.&8221;