It's from "Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]"
Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.
(Can you give me an in-depth description/analysis of what this sentence really means because I have to do a paper on it and I need to know what it's about first)
choose two quotations from the essay and explain and interpret them
Thank you for using the Jiskha Homework Help Forum. Essentially it means that progress for humanity takes work. If no one works at it, there will be no progress. If, for example, you don't understand the word "stagnation" look it up in a good dictionary.
In this sentence from "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr., he delves into the concept of human progress and its connection to the efforts and agency of individuals. King argues against the notion that progress happens automatically or is predetermined by some kind of inevitability. Instead, he suggests that progress is achieved through the dedicated and relentless work of people who are willing to collaborate with a higher power, symbolically referred to here as being "co workers with God."
According to King, without this active involvement and hard work, time itself becomes an ally of social stagnation. This means that if people simply wait for progress to happen without actively contributing to it, social change will remain stagnant or even regress. Time, in this context, is not a neutral factor that automatically brings improvement, but can actually enable the forces that hinder social progress to persist.
King's message emphasizes the importance of human agency, perseverance, and the understanding that progress cannot be taken for granted. He expresses the need for individuals to actively engage in the pursuit of justice and social change, rather than passively hoping that circumstances will improve on their own. This sentence serves as a call to action, encouraging readers to take responsibility for driving social progress through their own hard work and dedication.