Not Just Another Day Off
After Hannukah, Christmas and New Year's Day, folks will be observing MLK Day.
Do you know the history of this holiday? The act which Congress passed in '94 to give us this day off was entitled the King Holiday and Service Act. It was in fact designated as a national day of volunteer service. Instead of another day off from work or school, Congress asked Americans to celebrate Dr. King's legacy by moving from having dialog about issues in our communities to going out and taking action to deal with those issues.
Having voted a man of colour into the White House, one might assume that instead of singing We Shall Overcome, we can now say we HAVE overcome. Look away from the White House, past the lawn and down the road a piece. It would be better to look at the racial dimensions of inequality cited by the Institute for Policy Studies. Perhaps a look at this video would help to put Dr. King's dream into a contemporary perspective and to formulate ideas about the best way to spend MLK day. Participation in the King Day of Service has grown steadily over the past decade, ...with projects involving the tutoring and mentoring children, painting schools and senior centers, delivering meals, and building homes. Many of the projects started on King Day continue to engage volunteers beyond the holiday and impact the community year-round
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To learn more about how you can participate, visit the MLK Day website.
(For those of you saying - What's she preaching? She isn't even living here anymore! I want you to know that damaged as it may be, my heart is there and if you have any suggestions as to how I can do my part from abroad, by all means, please share them with me)
Thank God for the troubles we've seen and the mercy he has shown us because without them both we could not grow closer to him.
Thank God for each day he gives us to work toward improving ourselves and contributing towards a better future for humanity.
