I’ve always wondered what Washington and Lincoln would have thought of their birthdays, first individually and then combined as Presidents Day, turning into a day-off for school kids as well as major department store sales. I then realize that it’s more constructive to consider that question around our commemoration of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday. Today the occasion is marked by a focus on deed, it having been designated as A Day of Service. What it will be tomorrow is anyone’s guess, but we must always hope there’s a continuing commitment to the values for which he stood.

King wasn’t perfect but no one can take away his charisma. It united not only African-Americans under the banner of justice, but so many other groups including liberal Jews. We saw in his crusade similarities with values we hold dear.

But what I think about especially in light of the January 6 insurrection is that even King’s unprecedented March to Washington at which a quarter million people participated, did not result in an angry mob incited by MLK…but it could have. The goal of King and the March was racial equality; through the power of many – the non-violent power of many – and the determination of King and his crew, so much has been accomplished.

We can see from the incidents leading to the Black Lives Matter protests that more work must be done; racism is alive and well even, perhaps especially, in the upper echelons of government and law enforcement. But even in the BLM situations, except for the looting and other destruction which I believe was done by those who took advantage of the bedlam and not necessarily the protesters, the potential for true civil conflict was avoided, notwithstanding the response of the president.

Dr. King was the inspiration for so many, Black and White, Jew and Christian, rich and poor, and many other “opposites.” We need such giants again; maybe they will emerge and be encouraged from Wednesday forward.