Living the Dream?

Today, facebook and twitter were full of quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr. People changed their profile pictures to that of MLK and videos of the "I have a Dream" speech were posted. I am not typing this because I was ultra inspired. I have to say, I wasn't. I feel like people get the day off (um, not me) and they just go about their regularly scheduled lives and do not do anything remotely close to celebrate the reason that they have the day off. It is kind of like Veterans Day, right. Thousands of people change their profile pics to service men and women and say thank you for your service, but no one is headed down to the VFW to participate in fundraising or anything like that. Same feeling today; I mean I heard the lip service and I know some of you just chilled on the couch all day.

So, I'm not writing this to make people feel bad, I guess that my question is plain: what will YOU do? MLK was around in a time of turmoil- people were dying and there was a war for civil rights of American citizens being waged in almost every town in America. We are alive during a time when our neighbors need help to LIVE, civil rights are being violated across the board, people are dying (we still have soldiers in Afghanistan-- for all of you about to tell me that the war is over, it is not), more than 30% of the people living below the poverty line are children, crime is up, foreclosure rates are still sky high, the number of employed Americans has (finally) started to go up, but unemployment is still at 8.5% nationwide, our government and close minded American citizens are continuing a well established war on the poor of our country, schools are falling apart, our educational system is failing our children-- the list goes on and on. So what are you going to do? Who are you going to help?

Let's be clear, dreams are so cool to have, but can't come true without work. Even the Bible says that "faith, without works, is dead." In other words, things aren't just going to happen. Dr. King's dream isn't going to come true while you are sitting on your ass watching Maury. People aren't going to judge you on your character if you are standing on the corner every day, up to no good. Dreams can't come true if all you do is write them down. We need action. We need actors. We need the fervor or the 60s to light a fire under our lazy asses. We need to get out into the community and call for discrimination to stop; call for education to be properly financed; call for Congress to do what is right for the betterment of American citizens, not the fat cat lobbyists that pay them in kickbacks. We need someone who is willing to take a chance. Is that someone you?

You know, throughout the whole Occupy Wall Street movement, my opinion was not always favorable for those in the streets, sleeping in parks and picketing, HOWEVER, I respect those people because they DID SOMETHING. They participated. They saw an injustice and were vocal about it. They made it so that corporate America would have to listen, if just for a short while, they were not ignored. We need some more people willing to stand up and say when something is not right. We need more people who are willing to put it on the line, like MLK and his contemporaries. We need some more people who aren't just going to look out for their own interests, but also for the interests of their neighbors; we need someone that will stand up and fight for what they believe in to make their dreams come true. Is that someone you? If not, why not? Get up. Get your head out of the sand. Realize that at some point if you don't look out for someone besides yourself, sooner or later, there will be no one left to look out for you. So again I ask, what are you willing to do? What steps have you taken to guide the dream into a place where it can become a reality? What children have you helped mold? (You should start with your own and move out into your community, just an FYI). Have you helped your community or are you a burden? Have you abused the rights that people fought and died for, just 40 years ago? Do you know someone who needs help that you just constantly ignore? Do you have resources to lend? Advice to give? What are you willing to do? What dreams have you let fall by the wayside because you are just too scared to make it happen?

Give more than lip service. Give yourself, so that the dream has a chance to live on-- a chance to actually make a difference-- a chance to be more than just a video we watch on YouTube, once a year. A chance to be more than just familiar words that we recite the second week in January and teach our kids for Black History Month. It is so plain to see that we need more than that. We deserve more than that and all we need is ONE person who is willing to live a dream, to sacrifice, to care about someone other than himself... Will it be you?