A Newtown Patcher's Expression of Service

What better way to spend a Martin Luther King Jr. day off than with your 7 and 5-year-old daughters? I certainly cannot think of one. While really awesome, what do you say as a parent when young kids ask why we have off and what Martin Luther King Jr. did? Much to our chagrin, there is no rule book or guide book on this one, rather, just some old fashioned attempts at doing the right thing as a parent. Luckily, with a background in talking to kids about serious topics and a wife with excellent judgement and ideas, we were able to bridge the gap of understanding to teach our girls the enormity of what Dr. King did.

As we explained the civil rights movement and Dr. King's (and so many others') fight for racial equality, our daughters' faces told the story. Horrified, they commented about how awful it is to judge someone by the color of their skin, and what a grave injustice it is to suppress another and think of them as being less (in their own words of course). As our 7-year-old so eloquently said, "It doesn't matter what someone looks like on the outside; it's what is on their inside that counts". Well said! While we talked about these past injustices, it saddened me to think that, while our daughters may not yet realize it, we have taken giant steps back towards that place with today's politics.

When asked what we should do today to give back and provide some type of service in the name of Dr. King, our daughters thought of picking up trash in our Newtown neighborhood. So, after selecting trash sticks and getting bundled up, off we went. What would appear to be a chore for some, was pure bliss for our girls. They, scooters in tow, went around nearby streets, excitedly picking up trash on the ground. The sense of pride on their faces was certainly worth its weight in gold, but more than that, was the message they received. When we finished, we talked about how anyone can give back, even doing something as simple and trivial (as compared to what Dr. King did) as picking up trash. As Dr. King was quoted as saying, "The time is always right to do what is right".

And, after a day of discussion and life lessons (more from my daughters teaching us), it's time for hot chocolate!!

One love, and thanks for listening Newtown!

Photo courtesy of the author