What are you doing for others?

On Monday, January 15, I attended the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream" Breakfast at Drury Lane in Oakbrook. The event was attended by over 1,200 individuals from throughout DuPage County and together, we celebrated the life of Dr. King, who would have turned 95 on Monday. The event was sponsored by the DuPage County Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Advisory Committee, and all proceeds from the breakfast will go to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Fund of DuPage Foundation, a new permanently-endowed fund seeded by The Inland Real Estate Group of Companies Inc. and supported by more than 200 partners. The fund will augment the Foundation’s Community Impact Grant Program in the areas of health, human services, and education.

My attendance was my first such exposure to this event which was established back in 1994 through the leadership of Dr. William Carroll, now President Emeritus of Benedictine University. Over the years, the event has drawn more than 1,000 attendees, and now serves as a beautiful tribute to Dr. King, not only for his dedication to the civil rights movement but to the humanitarian causes throughout our society he so fervently endorsed. Much of what Dr. King spoke to went beyond the notion of skin color but rather addressed the ways in which we work with and accept one another despite our racial makeup. Take a second and examine the quote “Life’s more persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?” Here he is not just talking about black/white relations, but addressing how well we are at meeting the needs of our fellow man. On a personal level, I have asked that question many times during my life, and my response has always been to look for ways to better serve others. It needs to be a question we each ask ourselves, and then truly examine our response.

Monday’s event was, for me, a great time for personal reflection, not only on the life of Dr. King, but on the lessons he shared in his writings and speeches. I look forward to attending this event next January, and my hope is that many of the lessons espoused by Dr. King during his lifetime will become a reality.