Four Score and five years ago

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No, I did not mistake the beginning of the Gettysburg Address.  Instead, I am referring to the birth of the late Reverend Martin Luther King.  Who was born into an America that was segregated.  And, helped change the  policy and practice of that nation.

March on Washington

But, today is not his birthday.  No, it’s the ides of January.  Which brings up my favorite minor complaint about America.  That we only celebrate on Mondays. Like the real date of the event doesn’t count for anything.

We no longer celebrate the birth of Abraham Lincoln (What?  You didn’t recall it was 12 February?) or George Washington (22 February).  Instead, we celebrate on the Monday between those two days with Presidents Day.  Like I- and many others- want to celebrate that Richard Nixon managed to fool a whole bunch of folks to vote for him as President.

Or, that we don’t celebrate Memorial Day on 30 May.  Because we would possibly miss out on a day off from work.

Yet another reason that we divorce history from our celebrations.  Like the memorial without context provides any utility.

Oh, and you’ll love this concept.  In Virginia, Martin Luther King Day is almost always co-celebrated with Lee-Jackson Day.  The heroes of the South in the Civil War and a Southerner who insured that the legacy of the Civil War would not be more segregation or slavery…

Yes, that’s just perfect.

MLK’s  speech is remembered because it was about as perfect as we have heard in the past 50 years.  Below is but a portion of MLK’s speech.  One that mesmerized me- and many others that fine August day.  It still brings me to tears.  The whole speech can be found here.

I have a dream today…
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together…
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”…
And when this happens, 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!”

Let freedom’s bells ring.   So, that all of us truly can be free at last…

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23 thoughts on “Four Score and five years ago”

  1. I don’t really understand why these holidays the government and school systems get the day off. I would think it would be a perfect day to teach about the person and why we celebrate it. For most kids & adults it is just a day off work and no thought is given to why it is important enough for that to occur.
    Shawn recently posted..Consistency Is the Name of the Game

    1. We have a tradition in this country to provide 8 (or 10) holidays. Only March, June, and August (some also October) don’t have days off (MLK, Presidents, Good Friday, Memorial, Independence, Labor, Columbus (maybe not), Thanksgiving, and Xmas…

      Thanks for the visit and comment, Shawn.

  2. I must agree with you that to make everything fall on a Monday is stupid. I guess Thanksgiving missed the move because without that there would be no Black Friday. And Christmas isn’t even the right time of year let along the correct day of the week. We do like to mess with history in this country. The MLK speech is a stand along speech that everyone should actually read. I believe reading it brings the words home much better that listening to the recordings that we hear each year. Great Blog Post.
    Chef William recently posted..Building Memories of Mexico

  3. It is an amazing speech. He is very worthy of this holiday and like you I would prefer “real” days to be recognized not just Mondays. Perhaps we should take the Monday closest to Christmas for Christmas!

    1. I am still laughing out loud, Alessa!
      Yes, this Monday craze needs to be recognized as crazy. We need the historical link to the events to keep them meaningful.
      I wonder how many folks know the real reason behind Memorial Day (besides having a Bar-B-Q or the unofficial start of Summer)!

    1. Oh, you can take that last sentence to the bank, Julia. The Reverend believed in maintaining freedom- and for all. Nowadays, freedom is for the few and our bill of Rights’ Freedoms are in severe jeopardy.
      Thanks for reminding us that we must be diligent for our freedoms- and for our holidays’ historical significance!

  4. Well, I have to admit that I am guilty of enjoying these three day weekends, but I don’t really understand how the decisions get made about which dates or days should be for which holidays. It is strange. And the speech is amazing – so emotional.

    1. Well, Suerae, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act was enacted in 1968 and took effect in 1971. Ever since that date, our holidays have been divorced from their historical meaning.
      And, you are correct- Reverend King offered us a speech that still mesmerizes to this day

      Thanks for the visit AND the comment.

  5. Well, Roy, in France we have these holidays on the day, as you suggest, and not on Mondays. It is not that great, because you never know which day of the week it is going to be on. This means that, when it is on a Thursday or on a Tuesday, most people do ‘the bridge’ and don’t come to work on resp Friday or Monday to have a 4-day week-end. The national sport is to do the ‘Viaduct’ when one of these hols is on a Wednesday (you have Monday and Tuesday free, and then you take a couple of days of hols: you have a whole week!). In short, I have been there and done it, and I find the ‘Monday’ system more pragmatic: you know what you get!
    Muriel recently posted..Is London Becoming More Popular Than Paris?

    1. Yes, folks do tend to take vacations around those middle of the week holidays to extend their fun… But, they do the same when it’s on Monday, by taking off the Friday before- or the rest of the week. I prefer to insure the reason for the holiday to remain with the holiday.

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