Monday Is Martin Luther King Day

Many people have come and gone over the 1000’s of years we have been upon the earth.

Few make their mark beyond being born, learn to be part of a family, work, marry, provide, enjoy life & retirement, grandchildren and then death. Every life is important and their contribution is immeasurable in history’s large and continuing track. Every once in a while society is blessed or cursed with an individual who makes a difference for generations to come.

Martin Luther King is a man who strived to do good in a non-violent way to change the way the majority thought and acted. Behavior over a long period of time had been ingrained in a large part of society. Many wanted a separate but equal society. In the 60’s and for years before and some years after, it was separate, but not equal. On Monday, January 18th we celebrated Dr. King’s birth. In the early eighties the Congress approved and President Reagan signed the Martin Luther King holiday. Which some have called “Human Rights Day.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. – photograph taken in 1964.

Was Dr. King perfect, no, he was as human as the next individual; we have learned that he made the same mistakes as others who have had power put into their hands. But even with his personal faults he became the symbol of a people and a generation that strived for equality in treatment and behavior of all the people of the world.

President John F. Kennedy meets with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King’s signature.

As Theodore Roosevelt said, he was a man in the arena, and he did not shirk from what he knew was right. Dr. King suffered verbal and physical attacks to him, his family and his co-workers. (Read the “I have a dream” speech) He was the youngest man to ever receive the Nobel Peace Prize; he worked with John Kennedy to move the rights of minorities forward, and in 1965 he stood over President Johnson as he signed the Voters Rights Act – a measure that was one of his key accomplishments.

President Ronald Reagan signs Martin Luther King Holiday Bill.

Like all men who stand against the status quo, he paid the highest price with his life. In this upcoming week, remember those who have made a difference and fly the flag.