With the first week of classes over, I hope Ferris State University stu­dents are get­ting set­tled in the rou­tine of class work and quizzes. In addi­tion to a new semes­ter of classes, the uni­ver­sity has begun work­ing to cre­ate a series of new cam­pus events.

Throughout cam­pus a num­ber of stu­dents and staff are work­ing together to put on Ferris’ annual “Carrying on the Dream” MLK cel­e­bra­tion. No mat­ter how we choose to get involved in the cel­e­bra­tion, the most impor­tant idea is acknowl­edg­ing the influ­ence Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has made in our per­sonal lives.

Though many peo­ple view Dr. King’s move­ment in the scope of race, the legacy of his activism was a color-blind attempt to advance social moral­ity. Movements such as the Poor People’s Campaign dur­ing 1968 and his oppos­ing view of the Vietnam War pos­sessed greater influ­ence than to be char­ac­ter­ized as only an African-American agenda. They were an oppor­tu­nity to both cri­tique and cor­rect soci­etal moral issues among every­day Americans and politi­cians. More impor­tant than any one accom­plish­ment Dr. King brought to fruition within his life­time was his abil­ity to cause soci­ety to face its own imperfections.

Dr. King was a man who with­stood the oppres­sion of high-pressured fire hoses and Birmingham Jail time in order to influ­ence the oppor­tu­ni­ties of future generations.

With a num­ber of statewide and national hol­i­days com­mer­cial­ized or devoid of mean­ing, it’s easy to lose focus of the rep­re­sen­ta­tion a day can have. For many of us, hol­i­days are only appre­ci­ated because it is a break from our daily respon­si­bil­i­ties and rou­tines. FSU’s MLK events are a campus-supported cel­e­bra­tion that is defined by the FSU community.

As we sit in our class­rooms or res­i­dence halls, let us never for­get to appre­ci­ate what those who came before us have sac­ri­ficed in their indi­vid­ual lives to achieve in the lives of many.