LYNNWOOD – As part of its Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, the city of Lynnwood is hosting a “Call to Conscience” event to address the applications of King’s message to nonviolence practices today. The free event will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Lynnwood convention Center.

Leading the event will be guest speaker Arthur Romano, a certified nonviolence trainer and international educator. The event is held in partnership with the Edmonds School District, Edmonds Community College and Central Washington University.

Romano will address King’s principles and how to link King’s life and teachings to contemporary community issues. He intends to bring tools, strategies and ways of thinking about personal lives that will help to reconcile conflict of all types — at home, at work and in the community.

“This time of year there is a lot of talk about Dr. King,” Romano told The Enterprise. “King’s focus on what one can do and the practice of nonviolence are accomplishments of his life. In the U.S. context he did the unthinkable. He enabled change, large-scale change, where we didn’t think it was possible.”

Nonviolence is a strategy and practice, Romano said. “They are powerful principles taken from the core of King’s ideas. Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.”

He pointed out that King did not discover his methods until his 30s.

“Courage is cultivated,” Romano said. “We can learn and implement courage in our personal and social lives.”

The practices on nonviolence came naturally to Romano, he said. His mother immigrated to the United States and his parents owned a small business. “They always helped out people in the neighborhood,” he recalled.

Romano himself was struck by the world’s injustices as a 21-year old traveling throughout India. “The abject poverty was a shock to my heart, especially with children.”

While traveling he studied various religions and became acquainted with the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. “Living one’s life in the spirit of love and elevating that to political philosophy to eliminate injustice is fighting in a different way,” Romano said.