In the 39 years of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s short life, he awakened the conscience of our nation and summoned everyone to join the nonviolent struggle for civil and economic rights. Dr. King taught us that justice is about giving all people opportunity, treating them with fairness, and distinguishing them only by the content of their character. He taught us that the goals of civil rights are not merely the goals of a specific group of people – rather, they are the goals of our nation.

Today, four decades after Dr. King’s death, his dream of racial, social and economic justice has not been fully realized. To be sure, discrimination based on race has diminished, yet it is still all too prevalent. Consider that over the past three years, fully half of the documented violations of the Maine Civil Rights Act have involved racial bias. Likewise, Dr. King’s dream of economic justice is, for many, still that – only a dream. Last year, 38 percent of America’s 74 million children lived in low-income families and 17 percent lived below the official poverty line. Today, children and families make up almost 40 percent of our homeless population. The gap between our nation’s wealthiest and poorest families continues to grow.

This economic injustice is not because of a lack of national resources. Rather, it is because of a lack of national will. We live in one of the wealthiest nations on earth. Yet, for many Americans, that statement is hollow. For them, the American dream is elusive. Their reality is one of constant struggle and worry.

Dr. King once said, “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.” As we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. King, let us all be great through our service to one another. Let us serve as positive role models for children by modeling behaviors of acceptance and respect of differences. Let us serve by speaking out against racial and other forms of discrimination. Let us serve by helping those in our communities who are struggling to heat their homes and feed their families. Let us serve by advocating for government policies that reduce, rather than increase, the economic gulf that separates the haves and have-nots in this nation.

There is a saying, “To bring about justice, deal with what’s in front of you.” That is the challenge for all of us – to deal with the injustice that is in front of us. It is not enough to have sympathy for those who are victims of racial or other forms of discrimination, or for those who are poor or homeless, or for those who lack adequate health care. It is not enough that these injustices affect our emotions. These injustices must trigger our actions.

Congress established the Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1994 as a national holiday of volunteer service. Instead of simply taking a day off from work or school, let us celebrate Dr. King’s life by turning community concern into community action. Let us use this day not just to remember the great civil rights leader, but let us use this day to celebrate his life and work through our active service to others.

Steve Rowe is Maine’s attorney general.