Hello Beautiful People,
I’ll keep this short. I’ll keep this brief. Cause, quite frankly, this post wasn’t supposed to get written. This wasn’t on the agenda. This wasn’t on the calendar.
But this, well, these words, well, they are burning at my fingertips.
Today, I didn’t have to teach.
Today, we had off from school, to honor the legacy + the man who was Dr. Martin Luther King.
But…
I think school should have been in session today.
And don’t get it misconstrued – I mean that in the most respectful way possible. Because I think that this is a day for learning, for growth, for unending possibilities. I think this is a day for potential. I think this is a day where we should have taught the lessons and the mantras and the mottos and the message of this great man.
I think this is a day where we should usher all of the young minds into this country onto their yellow school busses, into their schoolhouses, and I think we should have a conversation.
A real, nitty-gritty kind of conversation.
I think we should suspend the planned teachings of the day…
…and talk about life.
Talk about fears.
Talk about hopes.
Talk about failures.
Talk about successes…
Talk about dreams.
(Yeah, I went there.)
See, Dr. King once said, “We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not yet learned the simple art of living together as brothers.” And you know what? I couldn’t agree more. I see it, everyday in my classroom. On the news. In my daily walks of life.
People, pointing fingers. People, placing blame. People doing everything but working together, living together as brothers.
And you know, it just makes my heart sad.
So, yes, I think we should have school on Martin Luther King Jr. Day – to strengthen his teachings. To keep his legacy alive. I think it would behoove the youth of this nation to spend a day thinking outside their immediate bubble. To ponder what it might be like to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. To truly get to understand the life of one of America’s greatest men.
Dr. King was one of the greatest minds our country has ever seen. And perhaps it would do future generations some good to carry on in his memory by actually doing something productive, perhaps it should be a day of service, rather than a vacation.
Just…food for thought.
Live, Love, Learn,