Today 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.
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.”
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?
Until then.....
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