It probably would’ve been easiest to spend Monday sleeping in, relishing in the last few moments before this semester’s work starts to pile up. But we hope that’s not all you did. Hopefully, you took a moment to remember the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We all can recall his famous words — maybe you had to recite them in a class years ago or memorize a certain section of what’s now a speech symbolizing racial equality, freedom and courage.

“I have a dream,” Dr. King said in 1963, “that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

But perhaps those words have become somewhat clouded or empty to you. Maybe you feel they’ve lost some of their meaning after years of studying their history. But they shouldn’t.

It’s not difficult to see that we’re a diverse school. Kent State hosts students from roughly 100 different countries. But if you walk into the Student Center at any given time, you’ll probably notice how quickly we migrate to those who look just as we do.

One group of that race at one table; one group of another race at that other table.

Of course it’s a natural process, a comforting social instinct. It’s no secret that many of us find it intimidating to approach someone who looks different than we do.

But could we be missing out on an important part of our education by doing this? After all, how much better would our generation be if we all took the time to understand each other a little better, become a little more cultured?

We hope that this semester, our comfort zones get a little wider. We hope we all can take a moment to get to know someone we normally wouldn’t, never allowing a single person or group to feel that because they look a certain way, they are any less deserving of compassion.

The above editorial is the consensus of the Daily Kent Stater editorial board.