Martin Luther King Day

Last weekend I was out walking the dogs and ran into a neighbor. She had just returned from a trip with a friend of hers who she introduced. Throughout the usual polite conversation, we chatted about it being Martin Luther King's birthday and how we all had the day as a holiday. Then she said something that nearly floored me. She said, "MLK did us good, didn't he?" You could have knocked me over with a look. For some reason, I went from zero to pissed off and appalled within two seconds. I could not believe that in one sentence, she boiled down all of MLK's efforts down to a three-day weekend! I was screaming in my head, 'You stupid, unappreciative, obnoxious self centered bitch of a woman! How dare you! You have obviously COMPLETELY missed the point! It's about more than a day off!" But because I really like our neighbor, I bit my tongue and didn't make a scene about it. But I stewed about it for quite a while.

A little later, while still fuming in my head, I came to a realization. All she did was comment that she was happy to have a day off. She didn't dismiss any of the good work he's done. After all, what did I do that day? Watched some TV, read a little, took the dogs for a walk.

I had the day off.