Martin Luther King, Jr once stated, “the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” Certainly, on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service 2014, all individuals and students who have a day off of normal activity could enhance their character with service to their fellow man.
If you’re still looking for a way to serve this weekend, MLKday.gov can help you out. Click this link for a searchable list of projects near you. Many of them are actually Saturday, not Monday, so plan ahead!
If you can’t make it out to serve, you may just want to spend some time reading about Dr. King, Jr or reading a few of his speeches. While “I Have a Dream” is always a well-known favorite, significantly fewer people know about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s commencement speech at Oberlin College. You can read that speech in full on Oberlin.edu. Here’s one service and action-related quote from that speech to inspire you: “Never allow it to be said that you are silent onlookers, detached spectators, but that you are involved participants in the struggle to make justice a reality.”
