Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today I am reminded again that I need to honor the ongoing struggle for freedom, equality, and dignity for all people, and share in the efforts.

Agenda today:
1. Journal: 
What have I done lately to teach or support freedom, equality, and dignity for all people? 

How can I better define myself as part of the human (rather than white) race? 

2. Celebrate:
Usually I attend the annual NAACP Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, but this year I taught a workshop instead. 

We celebrated the day by exploring friendship, how to be a good friend, how to be loyal, and how to respond safely to bullying.

3. Study: 
Each year I read more of the writing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This year we read and discussed these two quotes from his sermon book, Strength to Love, published in 1963:

"...we must not seek to defeat or humiliate the enemy but to win his friendship and understanding."

We had a productive discussion about friendship, loyalty, bullying, I-messages,
and much more, and made this collaborative poster.

"A .. reason why we should love our enemies is that love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. We never get rid of an enemy by meeting hate with hate; we get rid of an enemy by getting rid of enmity. By its very nature, hate destroys and tears down; by its very nature, love creates and builds up. Love transforms with redemptive power."

We also talked about loyalty and this quote, from the Steeler Lecture, November 1967:

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."




4. Make friendship bracelets:

We each made a friendship bracelet using the single half-hitch knot.

Supplies: Embroidery floss, safety pin, scissors, ruler, button or bead

1- First choose several colors of floss- five pieces seems to make a nice thickness for the core, but you can use more or less.

The single half-hitch knot.

2- Measure each piece to 50-inches and cut. Put the ends together and double them over. Tie a knot a little in from the center to make a loop.

3- Use a safety pin to attach the loop to your pants, and start to tie knots, using one strand of floss to cover all the others.When you want to switch colors, put that strand back into the core and pull out a new color to use.

4- When you have enough to go around your wrist, tie another knot, then add a bead or button that will fit through the loop.



5. Make Friendship Soup:
We each brought a vegetable to class and we worked together to made a pot of Friendship Soup for lunch.

Cleaning potatoes.

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