My Mountaintop.

I overheard this in my office the other day: 

“Thank God for Martin Luther King. I mean, yeah the Civil Rights thing, and all ::chuckle:, but for the holiday.”

First of all, we just started the term. How lazy can one be?

Second, if it weren't for Martin Luther King Jr., I might not be in this office to overhear your ignorance and then have the opportunity to blog about it.

MLK day. The day where we tack an extra day onto our weekend and post the perfunctory MLK quotes on our Facebook status updates, Twitter feeds and GChat away messages. No really, I’m impressed that you took the time to google and Wikipedia “MLK Jr quotes.” But the truth of it is, I literally would not be (in every sense of the word) where I am today without having the civil rights warriors like Dr. King at the time.

I would not be in my current geographical location. I would not be apart of the friendships that I’m in.

I would not have the education that I have. I would not be in my profession. I would not have the family that I have. I would not have my freedom.

It’s safe to say that most of the people reading this will not have had such a direct impact from our Civil Right’s Activists. That doesn’t mean they don’t affect how you feel and the anger you may experience of such injustice. Similarly, I am not a direct victim of current laws preventing homosexuals to marry their partners as I have the rights of heterosexuals (not that I'm exercising such rights at the moment). Just because it doesn't affect me doesn't mean it doesn't aggravate me that we are choosing which citizens are worthy of receiving certain rights. If it were still 1966 when anti-miscegenation laws were still enforced, my niece would not be possible because her parents would be denied the right to wed. That destroys my heart because she is the most beautiful thing to ever happen in my life. Ever.

There was of course a time when I didn't absorb what this holiday meant and that over this three-day weekend I merely planned road trips to San Francisco, Canada and did other college nonsense like going to the salon for impulse piercings and participated in major sofa sessions of TV marathons. It wasn’t until recently, January 19, 2009 where I felt something besides leisure on this holiday.

My friend Carey and I were filled with adrenaline and fearing sleep in the living room of the McBride's on the eve of Inauguration. We were slightly nervous we’d sleep through our alarms and miss the morning bus that would take us into DC to the brick mall in just a few short hours. Our excitement could not be tamed. This is when the magnitude of that moment poured down onto me and I just started crying. Uncontrollable, ugly tears that you never want anyone else to ever witness. My apologies, Carey.

Here we were. Two women brought together through educational hopes and athletic passion at an Oregon university six years prior. A Korean and African-American about to attend the inaugural event to swear in America’s first Black president. All of this taking place the day after King’s 80^th birthday (The observed day, his real birthday was a few days before). In another world, we would never be friends. I’d probably still be in the south where my family resided in the 60’s. I can’t and luckily won’t have to ever fathom that lifestyle. I’ve heard enough stories of mistreatment and inequality from my warrior grandmothers who fought the fight to know how far I'd love to stay away from that.

On the eve of his death, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech that I recently re-read and had a very physical response to. I'm pretty certain he knew that his time had come. Which for me, takes all of the fear of dying away; to know that your end is near and to be peaceful in that fate. He had reached his mountaintop and did more than what most men and women do in their lifetime.

Dr. King, the view from my mountaintop is quite lovely. Thank you for doing most of the heavy lifting and climbing so I could enjoy this. And even in my moments of sadness, inappreciation of my past and ignorance of the struggle, I recognize how lucky I am to be at this peak. It’s insanely gorgeous.