“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is profound and it is certain that studying the civil rights leader’s work, there are numerous take-aways. During his lifetime, Dr. King worked to empower individuals, strengthen communities, bridge barriers, and create solutions to social problems. In the present, MLK Day of Service is connected to Dr. King’s vision of “beloved community.” This was a goal that he saw as realistic and achievable and was centered in nonviolence and justice.
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, here are some ways in which you can better serve your communities:
1. Volunteer:
One of the most common ways people think of charity. Volunteering involves giving back of your time and your skills.
Try to challenge yourself in your service. This can mean volunteering for a project where you may meet people you don’t encounter often or work with often. An example might be a community garden project where you might encounter people of different economic backgrounds, neighborhoods, or races. That being said, remember that volunteering is not about recognition or rescuing people. Let go of ego. Be humble and listen to the communities you are serving. What are they asking for? Where can you help the people with what they are asking for, not what you think they need help with?
2. Donate to a cause:
I hesitate to list this tool even though it can be very powerful, because it can allow someone to avoid direct interaction with the community. For some who may not be able to give of time or skills directly, donating money can be a way to provide service and resources. One thing to consider when donating is to be educated about the issues. See number 3 below.
3. Educate yourself about the issues:
Whether you are donating money, labor, or skills, learn about the place you are donating to. If you are serving at a homeless shelter, learn more about what homeless means in your community. Who are the people without homes. What are their needs?
The same can be done for other areas of community need? What is the status of hunger in your community? Access to services like books or internet? Human rights violations?
Look at the response of organizations, institutions, or individuals in your community. How are they working to address the needs, challenges, or injustices you identified? Question why these injustices exist in the first place. How might they be upheld by the status quo in your community?
4. Listen
Listening is hard. It’s difficult to listen when you have ideas on how you can help, what skills you might be able to give, or where you can best serve.
Listening, might be one of the most important tools you have when it comes to giving back. It allows you to understand where a community or person is coming from. Maybe the thing you think the community needs is one of many things they need. How do you figure out what someone needs first?
Listen.
There are numerous arguments about the idea of volunteering as a rescue mission or a form of saving other’s who “don’t know any better.” [Look up the issues with voluntourism– a movement combining volunteering with tourism.]
5. Consider the faces and services you don’t see:
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is an example of one of the face we know and do see. There is no doubt he is a major figure, but the civil rights movement was made up of thousands of children, mothers, fathers, grandparents, and neighbors who may only appear as a face in the background of a photo or one of the million faces from the March on Washington.
Think about the members of the community whose efforts may be unsung- the office secretary without whom the charity could not run or the retiree who quietly walks around the neighborhood each morning picking up trash and contributing in their own small ways. Think about why these individuals aren’t seen as important.
Doesn’t giving back imply someone took something to begin with?
Some folks might be uncomfortable with the idea of volunteering because “giving back” makes it sound like they took something to begin with.
Benjamin Franklin, soldier, scientist, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States acknowledged this sentiment:
For my own Part, when I am employed in serving others, I do not look upon myself as conferring Favours, but as paying Debts.
Benjamin Franklin, Letter to Joseph Huey (6 June 1753); published in Albert Henry Smyth, The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, volume 3, p. 144.
Franklin further goes on to discuss how he is always receiving things from his fellow men which he never has an opportunity to return. Following Franklin’s thinking, what might be the ways someone receives, but doesn’t return? It could be in the extra whipped cream from the barista that you didn’t need to ask for. Or, the person that let you in when they didn’t cut you off. Then, there are the things that we have no control over, but that are clear advantages. Things like the roof over one’s head or the steady income that allows you to consider volunteering in a soup kitchen or a shelter. Or, maybe we had parents who always were supportive?
Ben Franklin realized that whether we directly see it or not, success is based on having had a lot of help from people we can never fully repay directly.
One more quote from Dr. King to consider:
Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., ‘The Drum Major Instinct’ delivered at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, February 4, 1968
You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.
The call to service and charity Dr. King envisioned wasn’t one enveloped in ego or building up one’s résumé or portfolio. It saw every person as having something to offer and contribute. Service was a common meeting ground for all people where credentials or titles didn’t matter. Everyone was equal in their ability to serve.
Interested in learning more about Dr. King and his work? Check out:
The King Center– Website for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?- Dr. King’s fourth and last book before his assassination
Some selected speeches you can find online:
I Have a Dream— delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
Methodist Student Leadership Conference Address— delivered 1964, Lincoln, Nebraska
Sermon at Temple Israel of Hollywood— delivered 26 February 1965
Beyond Vietnam — A Time to Break Silence– Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City
The Drum Major Instinct— delivered at 4 February 1968, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia
I’ve Been to the Mountaintop— delivered 3 April 1968, Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters), Memphis, Tennessee