Mon, 14:03: It's a beautiful day in Seattle today, partly sunny, the city parks bustling with activity as though it were a spring day even though it's all of 48° outside.
I left work early for a dentist appointment, and walking through the city felt very unusual, seeing parks and restaurants and more so packed full of people, even on Capitol Hill—it felt much more like a weekend than a weekday. Which, I realized, for many it is: my office is open on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so typically I work the day away, oblivious to any change to the normal midday flow of foot traffic.
Most of the benches in Cal Anderson Park were occupied as I walked through. There were plenty of children around, playing. There was a street musician set up at the fountain, strumming to what basically amounted to pleasantly easy listening as I walked past.
How many of these people even really thought about Martin Luther King today, I wonder? I'm not passing judgement, really, especially considering this: without the existence of this holiday, far fewer people would still be thinking every year about the man, his legacy, and his dream, which to this day goes on largely unrealized.
