Bush: MLK service day should be every day

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush said Monday public service performed on Martin Luther King Day should be carried out every day, not just one.

Speaking at Washington's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Bush said the day honoring the civil rights leader means two things to him.

"(It's) an opportunity to renew our deep desire for America to be a hope -- a land of promise for everybody, a land of justice and a land of opportunity," Bush said.

Secondly, the day also is "an opportunity to serve our fellow citizens," he said.

Instead of a day off, many U.S. businesses have taken Martin Luther King Day as a "day on" for providing community service, such as volunteers reading to children at the library Bush and wife Laura visited.

"But a day on should be not just one day; it really ought to be every day," Bush said. "And our fellow citizens have got to understand that by loving a neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself, by reaching out to someone who hurts, by simply living a life of kindness and compassion, you can make America a better place and fulfill the dream of Martin Luther King."