Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012 at 08:13AM It is one of the most significant and important holidays of the year today. It is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, also known as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, as many choose to dedicate today as a day of service in honor of all Dr. King did for others. In fact, Congress designated it as a national day of service in 1994.
He was a peaceful, non-violent activist who did so much and had so much courage, never resorting to violence no matter what cruelty he faced. He once wisely stated, "I have not urged a mechanical fusion of the civil rights and peace movements. There are people who have come to see the moral imperative of equality, but who cannot yet see the moral imperative of world brotherhood. I would like to see the fervor of the civil-rights movement imbued into the peace movement to instill it with greater strength. And I believe everyone has a duty to be in both the civil-rights and peace movements. But for those who presently choose but one, I would hope they will finally come to see the moral roots common to both."
What King accomplished is well known and also not fully realized by many. He took away a lot of fear and empowered so many. His actions continued to influence others far beyond his short lifetime. He changed the world. I could never do it justice. I cannot begin to sum it up in my humble blog entry.
He would have been 83 this year. He is remembered in many ways by so many of us. The King Center was established by his widow, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, after his assassination. It is fully called The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
Here is one of his most memorable speeches, one that has always touched me, one I used to have on a poster in my college dorm room. His words are still so important to hear as we still have quite a distance to go as a society...
activism, holidays, peace in Volunteering 
