On the various meanings of Martin Luthur King, Jr. day

I was typing in the title when the Publish Post occurred; this was strange.

The meaning of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., varies from person to person I believe.

Dr. King lead a peaceful revolt against centuries of entrenced racism and hatred. He placed his life, the lives of his family and comrades and church membership on the line. He went up against white trash in the south and in the north; he went up against the Federal Government (i.e. FBI). The man had balls!

How people felt about him was quite varigated.

I have a co-worker who apparently admires Dr. King's courage but blathers on about King having plagerized his PhD thesis; I have another co-worker (a friend at that) who strongly defends Dr. King and denounces this plagerism charge.

I went to high school and a year of junior college in southern Mississippi in the late 1960s. (My year of junior college ended in enlisting in the Navy to avoid coming home in a body bag from 'Nam...) In Mississippi, Dr. King was called "Martin Luther Koon" or "Martin Luther Coon". He was called a "Communist" and accused of being an adulter and I don't recall ever seeing any plausible proof...

He was also called names that I refuse to repeat. Regardless, a number of those who hated him recognized his courage and I heard "he may be a ********* but he's got balls!"

This morning, I read a blog from someone who claimed to be an employee of Daimler-Chrysler who stated that he

*got MLK day off because it is a Fed holiday but
*didn't get paid because Daimler-Chrysler didn't recognize the day

Sounds like a way to avoid paying the worker bees. Isn't that also called casuistry?

My wife employer doesn't recognize MLK, Jr. day as a paid day off so she simply went to work as she does on any Moanday.

My employer pays "holiday pay" to those working on a Federal Holiday and that extra cash will come in handy!

If I were a drinking man, I'd hoist a beer to Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior!