MLK Day- belatedly posted

This weekend is a weekend that is celebrated by everyone in the U.S. the reason it is celebrated is because on Monday it is MLK (Martian Luther King) day. This day is observed by many because MLK was a very powerful figure due to his leadership in the tough civil rights movements. The civil rights movement was when the blacks in our community were fighting to get equal rights and benefits as the white people did. During this time the whites treated the blacks like shit through brutal ways such as rioting/ beating them, making them sit in the back of the bus, separate water fountains and eating sections, and even a diverse school system. So what the whites were doing was making the blacks look like garbage by treating them with disrespect and hate. Then MLK came into the picture. MLK was a man who moved the blacks to revolt and rebel against the whites in order to get the rights they deserve. He organized marches, meetings, and speeches to help him and other blacks to get their message out there that they won’t take what the whites are giving them. Especially the famous rally where he gave his “I Have a Dream,” speech. And eventually the civil rights movement was a success and MLK was a big face of it that many gave thanks to for helping do what must be done.So on this holiday I ask myself, how is this holiday relate back to how to have a meaningful life and what it really shows? And in my opinion it can be viewed in three different ways. The first way is for those who don’t even care about the holiday. These are the people who will say “Thank you MLK for giving us a day off from work/ school.” The second way is trying to perform characteristics of MLK. Meaning trying to get out into a community and being a leader, team player, determined, and focused to make a change in society like MLK did. And the final way is for those who want to observe the actual change. Those who thank MLK for giving their people freedom and changing what could’ve been their future. The way this connects back to having a meaningful life is because some people feel that observing this holiday in different ways is meaningful. I feel that for most the most meaningful is observing the change that this man made. I think this because I wouldn’t think that people would want to hassle to leave their homes and make a scene for one day and that would be it. It would be very meaningless to try to make change for one day because if making change actually meant something to the person, it would be a mission to make that change every day. Not just one day out of the year.
But on the other hand I feel that this holiday gives us some sort of a distorted perception of Dr King. The reason I say this is because what I have noticed from these assigned readings is that back in Dr King’s day, he wasn’t close to being someone who should’ve been appreciated or even having a day to celebrate him. One of the things people thought he was was a communist. This is not the kind of person the people of the U.S should want to be celebrating considering we live in a capitalist society and communists are our enemies. This is one of the ways how we get a distorted image of Dr King and not a complete truthful view. This is due to him only being remembered for his actions in the civil rights movement and the good he did for our society. This holiday also in a way messes up our view on how to live a good and meaningful life. Our definition of a good and meaningful life is being able to follow what you believe is meaningful and meaningful to others. But this holiday says you can be somewhat juvenile and still be a good person. And usually it is the bad juvenile people go to jail and not get celebrated. At the same time though it actually goes with the idea of having a meaningful life. The way I see this is because the idea of a good and meaningful life is doing what means most to you and others. So maybe doing what you want even if it is bad for others can be meaningful in a sense to. Because in the big picture, no one will be nice 100% of the time so maybe it is ok to be a little juvenile and still get appreciated.