Martin Luther King Day - A day to celebrate!
On the third Monday in January, we Americans celebrate a life on Martin Luther King Day. Kids are thrilled that they get a holiday, a lot of adults are pleased that they get to stay home from work for a day, but do we honor and celebrate and reflect, as we should on this most auspicious day? As Americans, we need to thank this man for showing us that all people are equal, and no matter the color of your skin, white and black need to live together peacefully. On Martin Luther King Day we need to celebrate his unconditional love for peace and equality for all men.
He was born in 1929 in Georgia and studied hard at many Universities and received a doctorate and became a minister. He was married to Coretta Scott and they had four children. He, as a black man, noticed many injustices to people of color and he started using words as a weapon through speeches talking about civil rights for all. His most famous speech, “I have a dream” talked about liberty for all and that one day, people of all color, race and nationality in the United States, would be able to sit down at one table together and that the nation would be free of political and racial injustice. His purpose was cut short on a balcony on April 4, 1968 by a bullet. He was assassinated by James Earl Ray.
Coretta Scott King kept his dream alive. For years she championed her husband’s dreams and was instrumental in the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King Day became a national during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Martin Luther King Day commemorates a life of teaching of nonviolence and love through tolerance. Martin Luther King Day honors the life of a man whose entire existence became synonymous with racial equality.
Martin Luther King Day is a day for all cultures to come together in peace. Whether you are black, white, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American, the things he stood for apply to all nations. This is not a black holiday; it’s a people holiday. And the young people of today get to benefit from the sacrifices men like him and many others had to endure all those years ago.
Martin Luther King Day is a day for refection on how far this nation has come; but also to strive towards much more. Make Martin Luther King Day not a day “off”, but a day “on”. Do good deeds for others. Make a difference in someone’s life that day; he would have.