Hope was Kindled

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, an annual "holiday" were everyone gets the day off, whether they go to school or work in an office; businesses are closed, and every city seems almost deserted as the people enjoy the extra day off after Christmas break has ended. But in the joy of the leisure, many people often forget what the day stands for and why it exists. Equality and equal rights are fluid concepts in this and age and the idea of segregation is all but forgotten, a distant memory. But this was not the case some fifty years ago.

In the mid-twentieth century, you could find signs of segregation everywhere; on every city block you could find a white water fountain and a colored fountain, there were separate schools to keep the white and black students apart, black people even had to sit in a separate part of the city busses. Rosa Parks remembered having trash thrown at her from the white children's bus as she walked to school in the morning, and she was arrested for not giving her bus seat to a white man when she grew up.

Understandably, many black people became fed up with this injustice and the rampant segregation; some people even decided to do something about it. Small groups began to spring up all around the country, organizing small protests and boycotting the local bus lines. But, though their hearts were in the right place, they were not organized enough to continue. They needed a leader, someone strong enough and willing enough to carry the hopes of everyone he would represent. Without such person, the equal rights movement would remain small and unorganized, doomed to be brushed over by the politicians who had the power to change segregation for good.

Just when it seemed that the fight for equality would fall into oblivion, a miracle occurred; hope was kindled. Just as one tiny match can start a forest fire, one man can start and sustain a revolution. This one man was Martin Luther King Jr.

Through his speeches, his unending spirit, and his eternal trust in God, Martin Luther King Jr. brought all the small protests together into a giant movement that could no longer be ignored by the government. In his most famous speech, "I Have a Dream," Martin Luther King Jr. summed all the hopes and dreams of every individual standing in huge assembly before him; what a thousand people could not voice was spoken by one God-ordained man. Through Martin Luther King Jr., God's plan came to fruition and a bright light of hope was kindled for the masses.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is not just about getting off of work or school, not just about an extra vacation day. It is about freedom, the God given freedom that every man, woman and child deserves, no matter the color of their skin. One man brought the words of freedom to the world through his gift for speaking; he spoke for freedom and kindled a fire that never went out. Freedom for all; that is why we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Let FREEDOM reign!