This past week Lehigh University celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. and his contribution to the civil rights movement by holding a discussion about King's impact decades after his time. Professors from different disciplines, such as policial science, business, and religious studies, lead the discussion on the King's tremendous influence on society. They spoke about how King's impact was not just limited to the boundaries of the United States. His words spoke to people from all around the globe.
King was commended for fighting for a diverse environment. The board of professors mentioned that people often thrive in diverse environments and that diverse perspectives bring about change and knowledge. Looking at this from a business perspective, diversity in the workplace and in organizations is unavoidable. In many industries, career progression varies between people with different backgrounds. The challenge for people is to use diversity to make a difference in their field of work. It was also mentioned during the discussion that there is still injustice in the criminal justice system. People from minority backgrounds are given more severe punishments compared to those from white backgrounds. This shows that there is still work to be done for completely racial equality.
The discussion then moved onto how individuals can take action to promote change in society like King did in his time. The effectiveness of online petitions was brought into question. Undoubtably, these petitions bring about awareness easily and quickly like the highly publicized Kony 2012 campaign. However, it is clear that change can only happen through collective action. The civil rights movement and the occupy movements would not have maintained its momentum for change if people did not come together. Good organization is important when it comes to bringing about a movement. People should look to King's approach to start a successful movement of their own.
Society often isolates mentally ill people and labels them simply as the mentally insane. The truth is that most of these mental patients are not like Adam Lanza, the man who was responsible for the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, or like James Holmes, the man who murdered twelve innocent lives in the a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.
Change needs to begin with the media. The media publicizes these tragedies by questioning the mental capacity of the perpetrators. They put off these people as crazy simply because they believe that sane people are incapable of committing such a horrendous crime. They say that change needs to be made to keep these crazy people off the streets and separated from society. The people who commit these terrible crimes are the exception when it comes to the aggression of mental patients. The Adam Lanza and James Holmes of the world give mental patients bad reputations. By no means do they define the population of mental patients.
People often reject mental patients from any opportunities of living a normal or close to normal life. Society needs to realize that the mentally ill are real people. They have real dreams and emotions. They are just like any other human being in society. They should be given the attention they need to make the most out of their lives.
I have a dream that people will finally see that mental patients are not crazy but are people who are willing to be contributing members of society.
I have a dream that the mentally ill will be given a chance. They will be given the opportunity to live a life that every human being deserves to have.
