Today was the United States federal holiday marking the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  This morning…..I overheard someone say… “Oh, it is just another day off work.”  I couldn’t really believe my ears.

I believe it is so much more than that.   It is a day to recognize one of the greatest peacemakers and humanitarians of all time.

He started out like you and I. Born into this world… as nakers as nakers can be. His real name was Mike. He changed it at some point. He had a Mom, a Dad, a brother and a sister.  Grew up in Atlanta.

Later in life, he married had four kids.

King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement. The group successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law.

Many hated him for it. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.  He was simply a man seeking peace and equality.  He was gunned down for those ideas… on a balcony of a motel.

You know……there are others better equipped than I….. to write about his contributions to mankind… I will leave it to them.

Yet, I would be remiss here if I did not mention, that in 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means.

I think his life, his work, and his courage… were remarkable.

And……, I would like to remind myself of something Dr. King once said.

“All I’m saying is simply this, that all life is interrelated, that somehow we’re caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. “

The wave that ripples the next…. and the next…. and the next.  Much more than just a three-day weekend.