A man working at a store where I was today was talking to a friend of his. He turned to his friend and reminded him that the post office was not open today because "It is Columbus day, or something like that."
It is a disappointment to me that, on a day to remember Martin Luther King Jr (who is very different from Christopher Columbus, might I note), that we cannot even remember who we are remembering. MLK was a great man, a man who saw change happening in America, and wanted to bring about peace not only within groups, but between them as well.
My mother has always said that we should spend Martin Luther King Jr. day in school, learning about him, rather than sleeping late and getting to go about our regular, school-free day. I always used to shrug this off and be thankful that we have one less day of school. Today, though, I did wish that there was better education about the life of a man as great as King. We need to remember the work that he did, so that we will never believe that one person is better than any other.
I too have a dream. I have a dream that we look at our past and learn from it, and that we work together to work toward a future of peace. I dream that my children will not even know of racism, and instead grow up in a world where all are appreciated, not for what they are not, but for what they are.
"A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus." Martin Luther King Jr.
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