Spring Break
Editorial:MLK: Getting in touch with reality
Issue date: 1/28/09 Section: Editorial/Opinion
01/28/09 - Martin Luther King Jr. didn't stand for just civil rights and nonviolence. He made speeches across the country about unity and "rediscovering lost values." He talked about taking strangers by the hand and making them a part of something. While the "I Have a Dream" speech is most widely known and celebrated during Martin Luther King Jr. Week, people don't seem to realize how much more he stood for.
When we celebrate the person, what we're really celebrating are his ideals. He foresaw the world having deeper troubles than just racial inequality. He saw war, corruption and a moral compass slowly deteriorating.
In the eyes of some, he is the ultimate idealist. But he wasn't exactly the dreamer that people picture him to be. He was more in tune with the realities of the world than some of the loftier aspirations of some of his predecessors.
He believed in action. Writing a letter to a local representative or senator wasn't enough to create social change. He was a firm believer in inspiring others to make the changes they want directly.
"There is something wrong with our world, something fundamentally and basically wrong," he said once during a speech in 1954. "I don't think we have to look too far to see that. I'm sure that most of you would agree with me in making that assertion. And when we stop to analyze the cause of our world's ills, many things come to mind."
He talked about where the problems of the world really lie - did we not know enough? Was it "due to the fact that scientific genius lags behind?" Martin Luther King Jr. did not believe it was either of those explanations. It was in the hearts and souls of men, he explained, that the foundation of social issues was created.
So when the University of Rhode Island holds MLK Jr. Week, featuring concerts, art, workshops and nonviolence presentations, it's not just a "let's stay perched at the campfire and sing kumbaya" free-for-all. It's a forum for public conversation.
The university is one of the most diverse mediums for discussion of social issues. Students should take advantage of the week to figure out what they want to change about society or defend the rules they currently live by.
Either way, it's a time to think about taking a stand and having an opinion. This is what MLK Jr. wanted - a future of intelligent thinkers and a generation of passionate people to inspire change.
When we celebrate the person, what we're really celebrating are his ideals. He foresaw the world having deeper troubles than just racial inequality. He saw war, corruption and a moral compass slowly deteriorating.
In the eyes of some, he is the ultimate idealist. But he wasn't exactly the dreamer that people picture him to be. He was more in tune with the realities of the world than some of the loftier aspirations of some of his predecessors.
He believed in action. Writing a letter to a local representative or senator wasn't enough to create social change. He was a firm believer in inspiring others to make the changes they want directly.
"There is something wrong with our world, something fundamentally and basically wrong," he said once during a speech in 1954. "I don't think we have to look too far to see that. I'm sure that most of you would agree with me in making that assertion. And when we stop to analyze the cause of our world's ills, many things come to mind."
He talked about where the problems of the world really lie - did we not know enough? Was it "due to the fact that scientific genius lags behind?" Martin Luther King Jr. did not believe it was either of those explanations. It was in the hearts and souls of men, he explained, that the foundation of social issues was created.
So when the University of Rhode Island holds MLK Jr. Week, featuring concerts, art, workshops and nonviolence presentations, it's not just a "let's stay perched at the campfire and sing kumbaya" free-for-all. It's a forum for public conversation.
The university is one of the most diverse mediums for discussion of social issues. Students should take advantage of the week to figure out what they want to change about society or defend the rules they currently live by.
Either way, it's a time to think about taking a stand and having an opinion. This is what MLK Jr. wanted - a future of intelligent thinkers and a generation of passionate people to inspire change.
