Work and MLK Day

Today, I went to work. There is nothing altogether unusual about that. I tend to work a lot, and I feel lost when I go for long periods of time (read: more than a day) without work. I get anxious when I have nothing to do, and I feel guilty if I’m not constantly putting more and more time into my job. A therapist of mine once diagnosed me with workaholism, and it’s something I have been trying to work on. I’ve had to learn that it’s okay to not have anything to do, and that it is okay to have a personal life.

With that being said, today was Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, and I had the day off. Yet, I went to work. I couldn’t really justify staying at home when I have many things to do at work, and a quickly dwindling timetable in which to complete them. I tried to tell myself that I would have taken the day off if I hadn’t had the snow day last week, and while that was a fun thought – it was more fanciful than factual.

Truthfully, I would have gone to work today even if we hadn’t had snow. It is partially my workaholism – yes – I choose to work, even when I don’t have to, but it goes deeper than that. I don’t see the point of sitting on my ass on MLK day. It’s not that I don’t have great respect for Dr. King; I have plenty of respect for him and all that he did for our country. People like him have shaped our culture – our collective consciousness – and allowed us the freedom to each have dreams of our own. Yet, to me, MLK day isn’t a holiday that should be celebrated. It should be observed. I’m not sure that taking time off work is what MLK would have wanted us to do.

I understand that many people use MLK day as a day of service, and I think that is a great idea. Maybe one day, I’ll feel comfortable taking time off work to volunteer on MLK day. But, if you aren’t engaged in service activities, how do you properly honor the legacy of Dr. King? It isn’t that hard of a question. We should simply look at his dream – that one day all people will be judged by the content of their character. A strong work ethic is part of my character, and work is something I believe very strongly in, so I felt the best way for me to honor him was to go to work. Anything that strengthens the content of one’s character, I feel, would be the appropriate way to observe Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday.

I also feel that children should be in school on MLK day. Our country is dragging behind other 1st world nations in terms of education. We don’t need to be taking kids out of school for every holiday. Also, MLK day would be a great day for young people to take in-depth looks at equality and diversity, and how these things strengthen our culture. Children, teenagers, and teachers could participate in dialogues on race, religion, history, and the future of this country. I haven’t yet given up hope for adults discussing these issues in depth, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon, at least in a healthy and healing manner.

Basically, I think we’re missing the mark on this holiday. I think work is important, and maybe there are ways to combine work with the observance. For instance, instead of companies giving their employees another holiday, maybe corporations could choose a service project? Those who wanted or felt they could give back would have the option of participating instead of their traditional 9-5 hours. Imagine what our nation could do – if while our children were in school – learning to live the legacy of MLK, adults were out with their colleagues cleaning up our streets, building houses for the poor, being kind to their neighbors, or working on the content of their own character by choosing to work.

Then, maybe, we could affect some positive change for this country, and I think Dr. King would approve.