A Diversity Message From Neil Meltzer - January 2019

Happy New Year!

Have you made your New Year's resolution? This is one of the most common traditions to kick off a new year-making a plan to improve something in your life. Regardless of what your New Year's resolution is, I send you best wishes for this new year!

January 7 is Christmas and January 14 is New Year's Day for many Orthodox Christians. The dates are based on the Julian calendar, created by Julius Caesar in 45 BC, and followed by the majority of Orthodox churches worldwide. (We use the Catholic-created Gregorian calendar, proposed by Latin Pope Gregory in Rome some 1,500 years later). On January 7 and 14, Orthodox Christians will celebrate these holidays with their own unique traditions depending on their country, but they often include church services, gatherings with family and friends, and large feasts.

World Religion Day falls on January 20. Inspired by the Bahá'í religion, the day encourages interfaith understanding. Many organizations celebrate the day by holding interfaith events where people of different faiths can listen and learn about other religions. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'i faith established the day in 1950. The religion follows three core principles: unity of God, religion and humankind.

On January 21, we celebrate Martin Luther King Day, a federal holiday commemorating the birth of Martin Luther King Jr. (King's birthday is January 15.)  A leader of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Dr. King is best known for his role in advancing civil rights through nonviolent civil disobedience, which culminated in the passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964. It also earned him the Nobel Peace Prize that year. In 1994, the day was officially transformed into a day of service when National Martin Luther King Day of Service was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Therefore, while a day to recognize Dr. King's life and legacy, it's also a day that encourages us to volunteer and make a difference.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day takes place on January 27. Designated by the General Assembly of the United Nations, the day marks the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi-German concentration and extermination camp in Poland. It's also a time to commemorate the tragedy of the Holocaust and remember the millions of men, women and children who were killed. International Day of Commemoration is an opportunity to not only honor the lives lost but also to educate our younger generation about the Holocaust and prevent such acts from ever occurring again.

At LifeBridge Health we celebrate both what makes us diverse and unique, and what makes us the same - our shared purpose of caring for communities together.