It’s the first full 3 day weekend of the year (for most of us). Monday marks the 32 time the holiday has been observed since it was established and to be expected like the life and what Dr. Martin Luther King fought for:
- Equality
- Basic human rights
- Freedom (of speech)
- Hope
- Dreams
- Non Violence
- Anti-Segregation
- Anti-Racism
- Political Rights
- Change
- Love
- … the list endless
Dr. King was born on January 15, 1929 (a rarity the holiday falls on the late King Jr.’s actually birthday), in Atlanta, Georgia, to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. (1899–1984) and Alberta Williams King (1904–1974).
Growing up in Atlanta, King attended Booker T. Washington High School. He eventually went on to attend Moore House college earning at spot at the age of 15. He devoted his academic career to ministry and sociology. Devoting his life to change for the better including:
December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus.[37] The Montgomery bus boycott, urged and planned by Nixon and led by King, soon followed.[38] The boycott lasted for 385 days,[39]and the situation became so tense that King’s house was bombed.[
His goal was to make America whole (not great), by making it equal in opportunity, chance, love, goals and indifference… America being a place where we live… it is a place made up of walks of life from all over the world… something can’t be broken or built unless people work together to get it there.
Side Bar: He’d very much be against “Make America Great Again” because he was a man who seemed not to dwell on what was, but would could be here and now. I didn’t vote for Trump and I didn’t vote for Hillary… I voted with my heart… my choice and nobody can take that away. Martin fought for that. Maybe it was selfish to not choose someone who had more of a fighting chance… but if I had been born in any time period I might not have even had the opportunity to speak let only be… a lot of us wouldn’t…
A man of color could not vote less than 200 years ago… women couldn’t vote less than 100 years ago… Segregation was in still place barely over half a century ago… Interracial marriage was technically still illegal 51 years ago in most states… my how far we have come… and will continue.
The way forward is as one not Republic and Democrat, not Race by race, not man vs. woman vs. gender, not gay vs straight, not omnivore vs herbivore. When everyone can pause and listen and just listen to someone they don’t agree with or think they’ll agree with is when America when all of the world will realize it never stopped being great it just got derailed by people who stopped and/or refuse to listen (like some of the leaders in the world today).
Good and bad things happen to people every day of every second all around the world… and most of those people can ask for help, help themselves or turn to someone in their time of need even if it’s just for an ear to hear their voice:
When you take Monday off, observe it or hell if you don’t or can’t… pause for a minute (on that break) and think about what one person can do…. regardless of gender or advantages… one person can spread/influence…
One act of kindness can remind someone of what already was and is under the surface of our history and culture. You don’t have to be American, you just have to be human. Give someone a hug, thank that bus driver or barista, share the love.
Make Monday count. Make everyday count.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.Â
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