I have a dream

I am very unpopular with my children today, the day on which our country celebrates the life and life's work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

You see, my feeling is that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an educated man, an activist, a worker, a man with a vision that went beyond his dream that his children would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their characters. I personally don't feel that the best way to honor Dr. King's memory is to have a vacation day. While sitting around watching Bravo and HGTV and fiddling around on the computer and playing cards might be fun, it's still not the way to honor a peaceful man who gave up his life to a bullet for the cause he believed in.

So, in spite of the fact that schools across the county have the day off tomorrow, my home schoolers will be hard at work, plowing through their usual day's work. They aren't very happy with me, but we've had school on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day for so many years now, they've stopped bugging me for a day off. I used to always reply, "Yes, and I bet all those people who weren't allowed to drink from the same drinking fountain would have liked a day off from doing that. And I bet all the people who were forced to sit in the back of the city buses would have liked a day off from that. And then there are those people who couldn't get served in certain restaurants or stay in certain motels or whatever...I bet they would have liked a day off from reading signs in windows that said 'Negroes not allowed,' and...."

The only difference is that, after lunch, we'll gather here at the computer and click on the link below, which will take us to YouTube. We'll be able to watch Dr. King speaking at the March on Washington, out in front of the Lincoln Memorial, on August 28, 1963.

From YouTube.com: I Have a Dream -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.