Joe Gandelman has an appreciation of Dr. Martin Luther King.
[T]oday should be more than a day when banks are closed and kids don't go to school and we just say a name.
Let's remember what he did.
Remember what he sought.
Remember the example he gave us.
Remember that bright, internal spark that shined through.
And remember that we have that, too -- and that perhaps on this day in 2005 we ought to rededicate ourselves to making sure that ours also shines through.
I was seven years old when Dr. King was murdered. Fifteen years to the day my daughter would be born. I say this not to make some sort of dubious connection but to illustrate Joe's entreaty for us to let our "internal spark shine through." When I look at my daughter and her many friends of all sorts of colors and races and backgrounds, I see that spark.
We raised Caitlin to look at each person as though he or she was a reflection of herself, to realize that differences of race and ethnicity were superficial only in that it is what gets noticed first. It is apparent, after all, that my skin is pale while another's is dark. When MLK spoke of the content of our character he spoke to the better nature of humanity and the wish that our children would inherit a country that was working to live up to its ideals.
We know that discrimination still exists today in many different forms and I won't get into a discussion about affirmative action and quotas and whatnot because I don't think that using this day for making a political point goes to what Joe's talking about.
What I do want to point out, though, is whether you think that Dr. King was an angel or a devil (and make no mistake, there are too many who think he was either infallible or downright evil) the fact that my child grew up around children of all types and never thought anything was special about it says more about Dr. King's legacy than any federal holiday ever could.
I know, there are still areas we need to work on - and Americans of all stripes must be called to account - but isn't it something wonderful that, say, a black teenager can have ambitions to become Secretary of State and she won't ever be the first again?
So this is what I want to celebrate. Not a man or a race but a principle. Dr. King's great gift to America wasn't a speech or a movement but an impetus towards mutual understanding and respect. We fall short, as we forever may, but the proof is not alone in the done, but in the doing. May all of us, always, strive to do well.
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