Dear SCC Community,
Today we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On this day, we can honor, celebrate, and reflect on the life of Dr. King. and all that he stood for. In addition to spending time with family, I spent time reflecting on his teachings. One particular quote hit me as being very SCC – “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?”
These past few years have been (and continue to be) some of the most difficult times for a lot of people. The ongoing pandemic that seems to have no end, racial unrest, and political turmoil. No matter which side of the spectrum our beliefs put us, we have all felt misunderstood, attacked, afraid, alone, and/or disappointed over the past few years.
South Central College commits to the ideas behind our Achieving the Dream initiatives that embrace the ideas of equity, inclusion, and simply making our environment friendlier and easier to navigate for all our students. But we must also acknowledge that these bigger factors in the world have stressed us out and stressed-out people can struggle.
Let us take a moment to reflect on what we can do to support each other as coworkers: work together, reach out, respectfully disagree, give the benefit of the doubt, forgive past errors (yours and others), and above all be kind. After all, as MLK said, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” We will overcome all these challenges as individuals and as a community.
Appreciatively,
Dr. Annette Parker
President