Rockville High School Senior Diary: Martin Luther King Jr.

Our country was built on change. Change in religion and ideals are what drove those first revolutionary settlers to new land. But one change we seem to have a hard time accepting is that everyone is, or at least under the constitution, equal.

Men, women, African Americans, Latinos, Asians, Europeans; we are all equal. But those who think that they are empowered because of the color of their skin, are not as accepting of change as they preach about.

One man who was willing to make change happen was Martin Luther King Jr. He was a preacher and activist who brought the world’s attention to how unfairly blacks were being treated. He had millions of Americans, black and white, men and women, all standing behind him. His strong leadership and unprecedented power of speech gave people the faith and courage to work peacefully towards their dreams when others did not.

Americans should always remember the life and legacy that Martin Luther King Jr left behind and we do that each year on the third Monday in January when we celebrate his birthday.

This year, I feel like it is especially important to remember his dream of equality, not power. He wanted peaceful change, not violent actions to get attention. With all of the murders of African Americans over the years, and the anger and fear that harbor in the forefront of people’s minds every day as the upcoming inauguration approaches and our PEOTUS, Donald Trump, become our President of the United States.

A few day ago, the 74th annual Golden Globe awards celebrated an iconic actor that has been blessing our hearts and eyes with her beautiful soul. Meryl Streep received the Cecil B. DeMile Award for devoting her life to acting and film.

In the words of Meryl Streep “Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.”

These words were, and still are very powerful. They not only bring light to issues that have been going on for months, but they bring them in a peaceful way that does not evoke any anger, and sadness. It just makes a person think about how we treat each other, not just those who have been in the news, but our friends, neighbors, and family members.

Martin Luther King Jr had a dream, that we would live in a color-blind society. He dreamt of vibrant, multicultural nation; a nation that has a place set at the table for every child of race and room at the inn for every child of need. This day is a day of interracial culture cooperation and sharing.

This man endured physical violence and mental abuse. But the more that people tried to break him down, the stronger he came back. He never gave up on his dream, and there are people, like Meryl Streep, who keep it alive. They use their position to help others, and that makes us all win.

Dr. King once said that we all have to decide whether we “will walk in the light of creative altruism, or the darkness of destructive selfishness. Life’s most persistent question, He said, is ‘what are you doing for others?”

So on this day, take the time to do for yourself, sleep in, take a bubble bath, go shopping, go for a run. But also, keep the question ‘ what are you doing for others’ present in your mind. Do a random act of kindness, hug a family member, tell someone that you love them, and continue to keep the happiness and kindness in your heart just as Dr. King did.

Make it your goal to serve humanity with a vibrant spirit and unconditional love just as he did. Bring his ideas into the 21st century and we can stand together through what could be a tough time, or it could be the turning point in our society that Dr. King tried to achieve. But we cannot achieve anything if we sit behind our keyboards and whine and pout. We must stand up for not just our beliefs, but for what is right and moral.

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