Monday is a day we mark as Martin Luther King Day. Federal offices and schools have the day off. Banks are closed.
Stores are open.
It seems like Martin Luther King Day, or as so many commercials refer to it, “MLK Day,” is becoming another day to consume. To buy. It’s like Memorial Day. Or Veterans Day. “Go out and buy, people. That’s what today is for!”
Except it’s not.
What I’ll think about on Monday
I always take the time on Martin Luther King Day to try to imagine what went on inside that man’s mind and heart. There were a lot of African Americans who had the skills necessary to do what Martin Luther King did. They had the passion. They had the ability to organize people and speak and offer patience in the face of fire hoses. But Martin Luther King, he was special. He lifted up those people who could have taken the lead but didn’t. He lifted up the the poor and the downtrodden. He lifted up whites as well as African Americans. His message was of love and peace for everybody.
Man I wish we had a person like that today.
I have been trying to imagine what Martin Luther King would say about this world of online social networking. I keep coming back to the same answer. I imagine him saying, “What an amazing opportunity to spread good around the world. What an amazing opportunity to create a world where color and creed doesn’t matter. It’s just people talking. How incredible.”
The Dream has not been realized
A lot of people said that when Barack Obama became President of the United States, Martin Luther King’s dream was coming to fruition. I asked around, on Facebook and on Twitter, trying to find out what people think MLK would say about society if he was still around today. I wanted to see if anyone would say, “Oh, all of my dreams have come true.”
No one did.
The responses were almost unanimously the same. “We’ve come so far, and we have so much further to go.”
You can carry that sentiment to the world stage, where we are talking about the shootings in Tuscon, the war over immigrants coming into the United States from Mexico, and the general pall of incivility that looms over Washington, D.C. But you can also see it on a smaller stage – on this online stage. There are so many people who use this tool as a way to pick at people, as a way to spread hate and maliciousness, as a way to tear people down. Every time that happens, it shows us how far we are from Dr. King’s dream coming true. It’s not just about race. It’s not just about creed. It’s about all of us together.
It’s so entirely not about getting a mattress at 40% off.
Think about the future
As we move one generation further from when Martin Luther King was alive, we risk the danger of children not understanding what this annual day of observance is about. We move one more generation away from when schools and buses and stores were segregated. We move one more generation away from the March on Washington – the first one. We move one generation closer to marking Martin Luther King Day with a trip to the store and nothing else.
I don’t want to see that future. In fact, I have a dream that it won’t happen that way.
How about you?
Sunday: 01/16/2010
Bad News! Everyholday in the USA is about Shopping. That is the Culture of the Country.
Fair enough.
But it’s 1/16/11 🙂
Margie i suppose this is a challenge for all of us. Perhaps it begins with us a commitment to spend at least some time reflecting on his life. Would be kind of cool if there were some summary You Tube videos of his significant speeches and accomplishments.
In fact i am going to You Tube to see what i can find. The man sure had some memorable quotes. I can’t imagine the courage it takes to deal with the significant cultural issues without resorting to violence, no specifically modeling NON- violence.
Happy MLK Day.
Best
Joe
thanks, Joe. I think that’s a great idea. After all, what’s important is what MLK did and said, not how it all ended.
I’m pretty sure the stores will have sales and discounted prices again sometime soon 🙂
Very timely, Margie. I’ll be participating in a volunteer event tomorrow, painting the pantry at a local food bank. (It’s affiliated with a homeless program that was founded by a woman who was a year ahead of me in high school. Not sure if she’ll be there, or if we’d even recognize each other after {mumble mumble} years.) I haven’t done a project in connection with Martin Luther King Day before, as I volunteer with an organization throughout the year, but I saw this one and signed up.
While we’re commemorating Dr. King, we might also keep in mind that Thursday will be the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s inauguration and his “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask rather what you can do for your country” speech. Another message that bears repeating.
Very true. And also, the torch is passed – there is a lot to think about this week. It’s also the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration. What times those were, and yet his inaugural speech was full of hope.
We’ve had some amazing people in our nation’s history. I think it’s only fair that we remember them, at least 1 day a year.
There is no way I could do what I do, be who I am had it not been for Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement. Somebody had to lay the groundwork. So today I’m eternally grateful for he and others who sacrificed for the greater good.
01/17/2011
Wow! I was “Lost in Time !!” I was a young adult when Dr. King was doing his best work. He was “One of a Kind”. His tactic of “non-violent” protest worked because he was in the USA. I was in the Military at the time of Dr. Kings shooting death. I was able to observe the rioting for several days {close hand}. The rioting was proof that violent protest doesn’t work in the
USA.