Remembering MLK

So, it's the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day tomorrow and the snow is really coming down outside tonight. I'd really love to be a kid tonight.

As it stands, my employer gives us the option of one of three holidays as a floater, with MLK day as one of those options.

In a perfect world, I'd take the day off and use it as it was intended - to take some time, reflect on and celebrate the man's life - but we don't live in that perfect world. Left to my own devices, I'd more than likely play video games, sleep in and just enjoy the time off.

It's a shame, too, because at the heart of things, Dr. King is one of the most important Americans in history, if not the world. I used to keep copies of a few of his speeches in my desk when I worked as a reporter as well as transcript of his "I have a dream speech" on my bedroom wall.

From a purely artistic standpoint, the man was a powerful writer and nearly unmatchable speaker. If video tape can capture his charisma, I can only imagine how amazing those speeches must have been in person.

One of my favorite spots in Washington is the plaque that now marks the spot of where he spoke at the march on Washington. For those who haven't heard the whole speech, it's available below and the parts everyone knows begin around the 12-minute mark.

The lead-in makes the final portion of the speech that much more powerful - it's truly like a symphony.



More than that, it's worth taking a few minutes today to think about why history - our collective history, no less - needed Dr. King in the first place. We as a society needed someone to step up and tell everyone that it's not OK to treat other people as less than human.

It's not OK to have separate sets of rules and artificial limitations set upon others just because of their race. It's not OK to treat people differently based solely on the color of their skin. It's not OK to place arbitrary limits on education, business opportunities and human decency because of the same factors. On paper, those should be a pretty simple concepts but we're still miles from finished at achieving that goal.

I guess that is the most disappointing aspect of this great man's legacy - that despite the speeches and the passion, the thousands of people who banded together, it's still an unfair world and we live in an unfair country.

While it seems that many of the limitations today are placed on the poor, it's no secret that the bottom of the tax brackets have more than their share of African-Americans and Hispanics. While the state-sanctioned limits are gone, it's still not a straight shot for anyone to make their way to the top.

I guess if there needs to be anything said about tomorrow's national holiday it's that - be thankful for what you have and if you're privileged enough to have a college education or an opportunity to get one, if you haven't known widespread segregation and if you've at least been given the chance for a better life than your parents had, regardless of your race you owe Dr. King a moment of thanks.

Secondly, realize that we're still a long way from the country he pleaded for - we're a nation divided between red and blue states and we just fracture as a populace from there. When you're looking for friends across the national landscape, it can be pretty lonely to be a blue state, pro-choice, anti-gun, pro-meat, pro-business proponent when you're trying to find like-minded people.

And for me, that's the biggest thing to think about tomorrow - exactly what we can all do to help bring ourselves together for once and keep moving ahead as a national community. I have friends that while they don't look exactly like a Benneton ad, do span a great array of beliefs and ideas that they hold dear.

It's not a nation of unconditional acceptance, but it's a start.