A day of history and a day of reflection. Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Christopher Newport University was one for the books. Although I had wished to see more events or even have a total day of remembrance, my hope would be that within the next year there would be continued change and reflection. Due to assignments and other responsibilities, I was unable to attend most of the commemorative events but I was able to attend the speech of the honorable Justice John Charles Thomas, which was powerful in and of itself. A man who has had an incredible journey through the walks of life and in working to better the world.

He is a poet, a judge, and much more. Throughout his speech the focus being on Dr. King with his own personal twist. He had met Dr. King at least twice and grown up in the midst of the changes of the Civil Rights Movement. He helped to integrate schools through being within that system and helped to show us how to truly experience King.

Thomas spoke on how often we get caught up in the magic of King’s speeches and his voice, yet we are to understand beyond the words. He continued on describing the correlation of themes among speeches and letters of King to what things we as an audience even today are meant to pick out. “All of us ought to be on the search for justice” This idea was continued and pressed into as he spoke of all of us being tied together as one. He described diversity in nature and the world showing us the need for it.

I appreciated his description of the answers being in us, but we sometimes have to reach out regardless of what one may look like. “It is our job to understand better” followed by a description of what liberal arts truly are.

There are so many more incredible words of wisdom and dissecting of King that was discussed. I truly was awestruck and inspired to push forward. He pushed for a belief that we all can take on the giants in our lives, injustice hate etc., through taking it piece by piece. Simply said, show kindness. I truly believe this in and of itself is something each person can take and apply to their life in more ways than one. We just have to be willing to try it.