Today’s the day we celebrate the life of one of the most active and outspoken advocates of equal rights and freedom in the last century, here in the US. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man who believed in equality and freedom with so much ardor that he marched at the front of the line, arm-in-arm with some of his equally-dedicated compatriots, in some of the most troubled areas of the American South during the turbulent era of segregation, daring to face the consequences of flying in the face of the establishment of the day for what he believed in.
I’d like to think that people will take at least a moment, today, to thank Dr. King for his contributions to society – for being willing to stand up and be heard. Dr. King, among many of the activists and speakers of the Civil Rights movement of the late 19th and early to mid-20th Century are among my most cherished role models. These were people who saw a wrong in need of righting, and set about correcting it. Many paid in much the same way Dr. King did – with their lives.
I’d like to think that people today don’t take the freedoms and rights we do have so for granted that they fail to thank those who’ve fought and died in the history of this country, in an effort to preserve what we have.
I’d like to think that as a society, we haven’t become so jaded that we see days like today as just an excuse to have a day off (the Civil Rights movement’s contributions are so under-recognized that some people — even ones who don’t work in essential career areas – still don’t receive today off). I’d like to think that people take some time, on days like this, to say “thank you” to those who’ve paid for the freedom we enjoy. A moment of silence, a special acknowledgement of those who struggled so we don’t have to.
So, as you go about your day, today, take a moment to acknowledge how much the freedom you have means to you, and the people who are to thank for it.
Thank you, Martin Luther King, Jr.!
