Rant #2,814: It's Your Thing

Happy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Day!
 
In my entire working career, I never had this day off.
 
Never.
 
Whatever employer I worked for gave it to us as a day that you could take off, but as a personal day, like any other day you wanted to take off, and left it at that.
 
You can say what you want to about that, but that was the way it was, and I am sure, the way it is for millions of people who are still working.
 
Here is what I had to say about this in Rant #2,063, January 15, 2018:
 
“Most people have the day off today.
 
I do not.
 
I have never had Martin Luther King Day off,  never in my entire working life.
 
New York State adopted the holiday earlier than most other states, but I have never worked for an employer who acknowledged the holiday; the belief was that if you needed to take the day off, you took the day off.
 
I never needed to take the day off in my memory, although I might have taken the day off maybe once when my son was a baby or a young child, because whoever was tending to him--possibly in nursery school--took the day off, so I did too.
 
I honestly don't remember, but I do know that if I did take the day off, it was not a "free" day, and counted against my sick and personal days off that were given to me by my respective employer.”
 
Me, now being semi-retired, those that I deal with are off, as they are considered to be government workers, so I guess I am off too, but not by choice.
 
I will be looking for work to do today to fulfill my quota for the week, and if there are things to do, I will do them.
 
The main crux of my day will be as it is has been pegged to be, as a day of service.
 
But pretty much the people I will be serving will be my family.
 
I have to take in our empty bottles to be recycled today, so I guess it is also a day of service to the environment, too—and to my pocket, at five cents a bottle.
 
I also will be taking my son—who is usually off on Monday, and is today, holiday or no holiday—to his friend in a neighboring community.
 
I guess all of these would fall under the “day of service” credo that this holiday supports, and which the media highlights, … although you just know that 99 percent of the people who have off today from work take the day as simply a day off and nothing more.
 
There is NBA basketball this afternoon, and I hope to engage in that, too, in between driving my son to his friend.
 
And have you noticed that the day has kind of morphed into what it is, but also as a sales day?
 
It is subtle, but since about three or four years ago, I have seen more and more advertisers refer to “Martin Luther King Day Sales” in their advertising.
 
I guess if you can have "President’s Day Sales," you can have “Martin Luther King Day Sales” too, something that would only irritate the highly irritable at this point in time.
 
And again, at this point in time, “a day of service” really means anything you want it to mean, and can take on a definition other than what was originally implied related to this holiday.
 
If yoiur respective “day of service” is sitting on your butt doing nothing, that is your right to do as much as it is your right to actually be doing something to serve others during this day.
 
The holiday has become both reverential and personal, as all holidays are… I mean, on President’s Day, how many of us do something directly related to remembering our presidents, George Washington and/or Abraham Lincoln, or any of our other presidents?
 
It is simply a day off, nothing more, so why should this particular holiday be any different?
 
Dr. King was a firm believer in human rights, that all men were created equal, and I do believe that the “service” aspect of his holiday would even get a chuckle from him if he were alive today.
 
It is a nice thought, but honestly, I do believe he would think that if one did what he wanted to do on that day, that would be fine.
 
He believed in creating one’s own destiny in a world where people were not judged by the color of their skin, so if you want to participate in some service activity, that would be more than fine with him, but if you just wanted to loll around, that would be fine too ... black or white or yellow or brown.
 
I don’t want to put words in his mouth—which I just did—but as a man of character, Dr. King would be OK with whatever way you wanted to enjoy his holiday …
 
And I do believe that he would believe that that is the way it should be anyway, on his special day or any other holiday.
 
So it’s your thing … do what you want to do.
 
I think Dr. King would be fine with that notion.