This past weekend, the Middlebury College community organized and participated in a variety of events to honor the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Stephanie Pons ’12 and Whitney Hanson ’11 organized a volunteer event where people could come and prepare fabric which would be sent to Mothers Without Borders, an organization dedicated to helping children with AIDS in developing countries.
“It’s a great way to give back and to honor [Dr. King’s] legacy,” said Pons.
Hanson feels volunteering is important because it keeps things in perspective.
“It is important to me because I’m able to appreciate the day and to be grateful for all of the amazing opportunities we have,” Hanson said.
Some students felt that volunteering helped connect them to the greater Middlebury community. Chris Opila ’11 organized an event at the Addison County Teen center in which he and other volunteers went sledding and played games with local teenagers.
“The College does not exist in isolation from the surrounding towns, and this provided me with an opportunity to understand the nature of everyday life for teens in the county,” Opila said.
Benjamin Silton ’11 and Matthew Engel ’11, along with a group of his friends, went to the Helen Porter Nursing Home to perform live music for some of the residents.
“This event was special to me because I am a huge advocate of the power of music to communicate, to entertain and to heal,” said Silton. “To think of how rare it is for the nursing home residents to enjoy live music makes the experience much more important, and combining music with community service is one of the most fun and fulfilling ways for a musician to apply his or herself.”
Dr. François Clemmons, who directed and performed in a choral concert of Negro Spirituals, is also a strong believer in the transformative power of music. “Music is a source of inspiration, and people need that to be able to speak out about social justice … It immediately bonds us together,” said Clemmons.
Martin Luther King, Jr. day also gave members of the Middlebury College community the chance to reflect upon the ways in which Dr. King’s message can still apply to today’s world.
“MLK Day gives each of us the opportunity to pause and reflect on Dr. King's call to recognize and appreciate our commonalities rather than our differences, as well to take the time to actively give back to our communities,” said Sierra Young ’12.
“The goal is to make it a day on, not a day off,” said Jillian Hall of the Alliance for Civic Engagement, referring to the national day of service.
Assistant in French Claire Spacher emphasized that it is important to keep current patterns of injustice in mind.
“[Dr. King’s] message still applies now because all over the world people are victims of discrimination. There’s still war and injustice,” Spacher said.
Opila belives that the day serves as a reminder of our nation’s past and as a guide for the future.
“As a nation we are a work in progress. While we have progressed from our checkered past in which certain aspects of our society experienced undue prejudice and unequal rights, the heritage of [Dr. King] ought to remind us that we still have a ways to go. Many aspects of our society, be they homosexual, migrant or otherwise still experience undue prejudice and unequal rights,” said Opila.
Veronica Muoio ’11, who helped roast and freeze squash to be given to the HOPE shelter along with other residents of Weybridge House, feels that Dr. King’s message is much greater than only the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
“I think we take [social justice] for granted. It’s good to have a day to put it into practice. It’s good to associate his celebrity with the day because you can extrapolate to greater forms of inequality,” said Muoio.
“It’s so important to understand what [Dr. King] has done for our country,” said Clemmons. “I consider him to be one of our founding fathers. If he were alive today, he would be the voice of the voiceless.”
College celebrates Martin Luther King Day
Comments
