Student work highlighted in PADC MLK Day showcase

In addition the MLK Day celebration at the Alan Harvey Theater on Monday, Jan. 16, the Piedmont Anti-Racism and Diversity Committee (PADC) held its second annual Art and Writing Showcase for Piedmont’s K-12 students.

This year’s theme comes from Dr. King’s quote: “This call for a world wide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class and nation, is in reality a call for an all embracing and unconditional love for all men.” PADC asked that students to reflect on that quote in their art or writing.

You can view the slideshow of their art work HERE.

Love

I always thought unconditional love was hard
because it was always easier to hate; to embarrass; to alienate.
It was always easier to make up my mind,
but God only knows that there are more than two sides to every story, that the world is a fractured diamond,

that we are all so very broken and all so very beautiful.

When I look around I see fragments of people’s lives,
my mother, young, in high school:
wearing her Converse high-tops and reading Malcom X between classes, learning, growing,

She just wanted to figure it all out.
And if you can understand then you can love. And understanding is difficult
—and love is difficult—
but it’s worth fighting for.

Siddharth M. Bhatia

Unconditional is a powerful word.
To love someone or something unconditionally is
to love despite the bumps in the road,
to love regardless of the many flaws that surface,
to love even though it may be easier to walk away.
To love unconditionally is to choose to love because of
Rather than in spite of.
There is so much that separates us
It seems the
Barriers to break down
Ceilings to shatter
Seas to part
Are overwhelming and endless.
The seed that sows division is suddenly a thick thorny hedge
And we are all too happy to turn our backs and tend to our own gardens because
The barrier seems too strong
The ceiling too high
The sea too tempestuous.
Allowing our differences to pull us apart rather than forcing our similarities to bring us together
is where we veer off the road towards ‘unconditional’ and head down a dark path called ‘division’. Look where the light is
The conversations filled with laughter over a sweet moment last week
The words that lift your spirits and bring a blush into your cheeks
These moments we have with one another, these tiny glimpses of our lives
It’s the gift we give each other
The gift of friendship, love and smiles
Let’s not rid ourselves of differences, but focus on what makes us the same
Not loving in spite of of the division, but because of all the reasons why we came
Together.
Unconditional acceptance
Arms open wide to embrace
Loving not just these broken groups of people
But the entire human race.
Because love seems to have conditions
It is tested every single day
But the more we reach out, connect
The easier it is to say
Yes, we have our differences
No, we are not exactly the same
We are individually unique people and that is a beautiful thing.
But we are more alike than not,
And so instead of putting up these walls
Look for the unconditional
A place where we can love and accept one and all.

Elena Stevens