Next Year, I Will be Taking Martin Luther King Day Off.

Because the holiday deserves more respect than we give it

Next year I am taking Martin Luther King Day off. This year, I didn’t, and I’m ashamed. I didn’t even realize how ashamed I was until I went out at night, and a friend of mine asked: “Why is it that we take other days off, but not this day, of all days?”

I didn’t have an answer for him.

Of any holiday I can think of, not one represents the American ideal more strongly. Martin Luther King Day doesn’t just celebrate the civil rights movement. It celebrates the idea that everyone is born equal. That every one has the chance to achieve his or her individual dream. Whether socialist or capitalist, white, black, asian, arab, latino, catholic, jewish, muslim, or otherwise we can all agree: every man, woman, child, boy or girl or anyone in between deserves a fair chance.

People of all races and creed have fought hard for that right. Our country was founded on that belief. Yet we credit Martin Luther King day with less respect than most holidays.

I’m done. From now on, the third Monday of each January will be a holiday I observe by taking the day off, and by encouraging my team to do the same. For now, it’s one of the only ways I know how to observe a holiday, so that’s what I’ll do. I hope you do the same.