Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Pittsburg Post-Gazette published two of the winning entries from the 14th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Writing Awards contest, sponsored by the Carnegie Mellon University English Department. One of the winning essays was a caustic indictment of modern complacency, and how Dr. King might have felt about our "lukewarm" attitudes today. The writer, junior Nathaniel Brodsky of Winchester Thurston High School, pointed out Dr. King's goal was not just ending racial segregation, but addressing injustice wherever it is found, across the sectors of our society, our economy, and our legal system. Brodsky chastised our tendency to engage in hero-worship and focus on past achievements rather than carrying on the work of our  hero in the present.

I'm taking this young man's essay as a challenge, and invite you to do so as well: what am I doing today to correct the injustice that confronts me here and now?

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/perspectives/the-next-page-the-14th-annual-martin-luther-king-jr-day-writing-awards-671180/#ixzz2IdcjU5cJ