As we celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday on Monday, Jan. 15 this year, the words of his famous "I Have a Dream" speech echo through the years, continuing to be a goal for all of us to live together, work together and celebrate the freedoms we all enjoy every day.
Freedom was Dr. King's lifetime goal -- and he was willing to pay any price in his quest for that goal.
We often take the gift of freedom for granted, not even thinking about those who came before us and worked so hard to achieve freedom and equality for all.
Here in Lynchburg, events are being planned to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. including:
Martin Luther King Jr Day at Rustburg High School - Jan. 15 at 2 PM - This event is being rescheduled - DATE TBA
Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration at Randolph College - Jan. 22 at 5 PM
Whether you celebrate freedom on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday by participating in community service as a family, learning more about Dr. King by visiting the National Park Service website for the memorial in Washington DC, spending the day at the park, sledding at your favorite sledding hill, or staying home and doing nothing, the gift of freedom is a reason to celebrate every day.
May these words from Dr. King's speech (transcript and recorded speech at the link) remain in all of our hearts every day:
"From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
