As we go into Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year, we cannot help but ponder the racial disparities and contention we still have in this great country. In many ways we have progressed so very far, yet all the same there is still much to be done. President Obama’s farewell speech this past Tuesday January 10th, emphasized this, where we are and where we need to go. President Obama has been described as a, “class act” on numerous occasions on social media, and that could not be more accurate. Our country has been through a lot in our history, and our founding fathers set out ideas of freedom and liberty which have endured in many ways. I have heard many, my peers, say they are not proud to be American. I always was disheartened by this kind of thinking. This country has been a place of great opportunity for millions and true, it has not been a place of perfect contentment. We are a nation born from conflict, in a great and bloody revolution. President Obama stated in his farewell address in Chicago, “Understand, democracy does not require uniformity. Our founders quarreled and compromised, and expected us to do the same. But they knew that democracy does require a basic sense of solidarity – the idea that for all our outward differences, we are all in this together; that we rise or fall as one.”

He expresses the idea that, politics will not always go your way. Over the course of your whole life, you will see people in positions of great power make decisions you do not agree with. The fact is, we cannot quit on bad days. We have all benefited from this great nation one way or another, and it is our duty to make it better everyday. We can critically look at what is failing and needs to be fixed, and do our best to make real change, and above all we must accept.

Accepting. It is the socialist democrat from the big city and the conservative republican living in rural America, accepting the other's thought despite vast differences. It is acknowledging that we have made social progress, but also that institutionalized racism has suppressed a demographic of people for decades, and we are still seeing the effects. This is a mentality of not condemning your neighbor because you do not see eye to eye. Intellectual diversity lends to great innovation. We need to become comfortable being uncomfortable. Debate and questioning should take place. Ask your neighbor why they think the way they do. As the President also quoted, “You will never really understand a person, until you consider things from his point of view. Until you crawl inside his skin and walk around in it” - Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Politics ebb and flow, and politicians come to power and fall. But the American spirit must always endure- the spirit of true freedom, the spirit of tolerance, the spirit of innovation, and the spirit to pursue your own personal happiness. The true spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Today, take a look around. When I walk down the streets of my neighborhood, I see people of different races living together, and you see churches and temples promoting different religions – what you see is the spirit of America and what it truly means to be an American. Take a moment to bow your head in a moment of appreciation and silence for the millions Americans who died defending our great country over many decades and many wars. On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, love and respect your neighbor, they may not support the political candidate you do, they may have different views on government, but you are both stewards of this great nation. Let us band together to make it a better place.

"Let no man pull you so low as to hate him." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.