ISSUE: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

OUR VIEW: What would the civil rights leader say about today?

WWKD. What would King do?

Or maybe it should be WWKsad. What would king say and do, with emphasis on the "sad."

As much as the slain civil rights leader would be happy to see how far society has come in tearing down official racial barriers, he indeed would be sad about the lack of progress toward racial harmony.

The issue of race and gender that swirls around the presidential battle between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama could not please King. And it would be hard to believe King would support Obama because he is African-American any more than he would support Clinton because she is female.

King could not like what he would see in segregated schools, churches organized along color lines and organizations nearly exclusive to one race or another. And even more, King would lament a general lack of caring for one's fellow man.

Harris Wofford, CEO of the Corporation for National Service, was a close friend and adviser of King, joining him in civil rights marches in the South. Wofford served as special assistant for civil rights for President Kennedy. As U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, Wofford cosponsored the 1994 King holiday and Service Act, which makes the King holiday a day of service.

It was in 1997 when we first reported about his call for "a day on, not a day off." So much has not changed about conditions that divide people. Wofford's call echoes into 2008.

There is irony in the way we celebrate the birth of Martin Luther King. Nothing would have frustrated him more than people supposedly honoring him by sitting at home watching TV or sleeping late. The King holiday should be a day "on," not a day off. A day of action, not apathy. A day of responding to community needs, not a day of rest and recreation.

Certainly we should celebrate and never forget the civil rights victories won, the mountain top reached, in that historic decade of nonviolent direct action.

But Martin Luther King would want us to raise our sights to the work yet to be done.

Martin would have considered it a scandal that we have tolerated another generation in which millions of young Americans fall into a vicious cycle of poverty, drugs, crime, prison and death. What would he have said, what would he have done, about the epidemic of crime and senseless youth violence spreading across our country. He would not have accepted our failings in education, the one child in seven who drop out of school, the 40 percent of fourth-graders who cannot read at basic grade level.

King would have wanted his holiday to be a day of community service and interracial cooperation -- a day reflecting his belief that "everyone can be great because everyone can serve." A day that brings out the greatness in people, especially the young, by bringing them together to make a difference in their communities.

National service is a powerful force for change, not just on the King holiday, but every day. The million Americans involved in national service, school-aged youth engaged in service-learning, and older Americans in the Senior Service Corps are leading the way to a better America, to safer streets, better schools, healthier children and a cleaner environment.

Never has our country needed service more. If the era of big government is over, then the era of big citizens must begin. If we're not going to have new government programs to create a Great Society, then we'd better have a renewal of Great Citizens, who can act on the problems that are mounting and festering in our midst.

Service is a proven strategy for getting things done, but it's much more. As Americans look at each other across a racial divide, our nation is crying out for ways to bring people together. Service is that reconnection, that rediscovery of the bonds of frie-ip and community that tie us together as fellow citizens.

"Make a career of humanity," King said, "and you will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in." He understood the true secret of service, that when you give, you gain, that it is better to serve than be served, more blessed to give than to receive.

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