COLUMN: A day for service, not the slopes

From Binyamin Appelbaum's, "Carving Marble," Fall '00 From Binyamin Appelbaum's, "Carving Marble," Fall '00On January 15, 2001 -- Martin Luther King Day -- the University of Pennsylvania community will observe "a day on, not a day off." Classes will be canceled, offices closed and faculty, students and staff will be encouraged to commemorate the legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by performing community service. Of course, there is ample reason to doubt that students will return early from their winter breaks for the purpose of participating in MLK Day events. But more on that later. First and foremost, it is worth noting that the motives behind the holiday's creation were different than those Penn is now choosing to celebrate. According to the 1983 legislation that established America's newest national holiday, "the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.? should serve as a time for Americans to reflect on the principles of racial equality and nonviolent social change espoused by Martin Luther King, Jr." But however wonderful that idea may have been, America was slow to sign up. Federal workers enjoyed a paid holiday -- but the vast majority of the American workforce did not. Some commentators chalked up the lackadaisical commemoration efforts to racism. Others pointed to the hefty price tag for a day's paid vacation. But ultimately, the failure of the King holiday as originally conceived boiled down to something much simpler: you just can't legislate what will and what will not prove meaningful. In that respect, the failure of MLK Day was hardly unique. How many of us spend Memorial Day contemplating world peace? Or Independence Day seriously thinking about life under some alternative system of government? Ditto for President's Day and the black sheep of the national holiday family -- Columbus Day. The truth is, Americans use national holidays for rest and relaxation, not reflection or commemoration. But by the early 1990s, then-U.S. Senator Harris Wofford (D-Pa.) was becoming uncomfortable watching MLK Day become just another three-day weekend. "All around the country, the observation of the holiday was words about Dr. King," Wofford said at the time. "I wasn't against words, but King constantly said that you had to turn words into deeds." Wofford believed that MLK Day could be imbued with a new meaning -- it could become a day given over to community service. In the words of Coretta Scott King, "The greatest birthday gift my husband could receive is if people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds celebrated the holiday by performing individual acts of kindness through service to others." On August 23, 1994, that vision of MLK Day became federal law as President Clinton signed a bill entitled the "Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday and Service Act," expanding the mission of the holiday to include community service. While governments at every level would have been browbeaten into observing MLK Day irrespective of the theme adjustment, there is no question that the changed emphasis pumped new life into the holiday. This year was the sixth that MLK Day was observed as a day of service. The largest such effort took place in Philadelphia, where almost 18,000 people turned out to participate in projects city-wide. Wofford's Corporation for National Service also pumped out almost $600,000 in grants to help communities nationwide increase the scope and efficacy of MLK Day service programs. All of this is a wonderful tribute to the man who insisted that "Life's persistent and most urgent question is 'What are you doing for others?'" even if it is not the tribute envisioned when the holiday was first created in his memory. You, dear reader, will doubtless note the absurdity inherent in assuming that Penn students will not simply extend their winter breaks by a day. And maybe all the University wants is the opportunity to declare that Penn observes Martin Luther King Day. But if the goal is to honor King by doing more than paying him lip service, Penn must work to provide students with structured opportunities to participate in community service. If that is not done, and done well, Penn students won't be missing MLK Day activities because of class conflicts. They'll be out on the ski slopes instead.

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