Remember when you were sitting on your loveseat with the tattered upholstery watching "Boston Public" or "The Practice."

Remember when you were buying a pitcher of Coors Light down at Harry's.

Remember that when you finished your homework last night, it wasn't just another three-day weekend. Purdue didn't give you the day off to help you ease into the spring semester.

Remember that you got the day off because a man of great vision died in pursuit of a goal still unattained.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born on Jan. 15, 1929, and was assassinated on April 4,1968. Along the way he touched the lives of millions and started a civil rights movement that only grew stronger from his loss.

He traveled 780,000 miles in an average year and gave 208 speeches during those trips. His house was bombed. He was stabbed. He won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was continually arrested and assaulted yet he remained dedicated to nonviolence.

He had a dream and was killed because of it.

Four days after his assassination in 1968, the first legislation was considered to make his birthday a holiday. Yet King's birthday didn't become a national holiday for another 18 years.

King and George Washington are the only historical figures to have birthdays that are national holidays (other figures, such as Abraham Lincoln, have state holidays honoring their birth).

Six million petition signatures and an estimated $8 billion loss to the government and private sector were required to bring about a holiday that should stand for more than a nice early semester break.

Purdue is admirable for its work toward embracing diversity and promotion of the day that has come to mean so much more than one man's birthday.

In few places is diversity more apparent than on a college campus, especially one home to 37,000 students from 37,000 distinct backgrounds.

Not everyone got the day off of work or school, but even those who did shouldn't have taken the day off of thinking about the holiday and the work behind it. How much work was done for the small steps we've had towards equality of all people.

And how much work must still be done.

Editorial Board: Keith Thomas, Tom McHenry, Melissa Davis and Laura Pelner.