Today as I write this I blog on the holiday set aside to remember Martin Luther King there seems to me not a single event in Patchogue Village doing so. Not a poem read, a song sung, a speech delivered, a parade of marchers, a dance to celebrate his spirit of peace and righteousness. Not even I see a Mayoral proclamation setting aside this day as different from any other day in Patchogue Village. All this strikes me as an unworthy oversight by all of us who should stand up for the American values Dr. King represented in life and paid for with his life.
In the face of so much indifference I think the response should not be more of the same. Instead I ask that all who feel the same as I do should each in their own way dedicate themselves to making sure that next year no one finds any cause to write what I have written this day.
For myself at the next meeting of the Village Board of Trustees I will be speaking on this subject asking the Mayor and all elected officials to consider as leaders of our village how they can join with concerned citizens like myself and anyone else who wants to speak up that we need to make some changes.
Towers can be built, night life can be bustling, cash registers can be ringing their tune but all hollow gains if they come without respect for what sets our country apart from so many other nations: fairness, tolerance, justice for all.
