Standing Up

Another blog inspired by a Facebook post? Why, yes!

A relative of mine shared this clip with me on Facebook. The basic set-up is that ABC News hired some actors to play a gay family at a restaurant and a waitress to behave badly and in a discriminatory manner toward them in public. They set up hidden cameras to observe the reactions of other patrons at the restaurant. The whole thing was shot in a small, conservative Texas town, by the way.

The results were somewhat surprising to me. Person after person got up and told the waitress that she was being incredibly rude. People offered to buy breakfast for the family. One amazing young man wrote the lesbian couple in the clip a note that offered them beautiful, kind words of support. It was so touching that the actress playing one of the lesbians began to cry.

The young man's note said the following:

Hello Friends,

I know it doesn't mean much, but I love you all. You have a beautiful family, and I pray that one person's judgmental intolerance does not, in any way, put a damper on your hearts or minds. In the words of MLK Jr, "In the end, we remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

Donovan

 His letter to the couple made me tear up a little bit when I watched the story. Years ago, people could get away with saying just about whatever they wanted to gay couples and no one would stand up for them. I remember seeing the effect it had on our family friends. It could be really ugly and really hurtful. It restores some of my faith in humanity to see so many people standing up for what they think is right.

For me, this begs a question: what would you do in the same situation? Would you put yourself into a situation that had nothing to do with you in order to stop something that you know is wrong? My answer is yes. I've done it before, and I have no qualms about doing it again. It's wrong to allow discrimination to happen in front of your eyes. What I worry about is the answer that other people would give when asked the same question. How many people think, "Well, this is none of my business," and just sit back and do nothing?

Donovan is right; it is the inaction of those around us who do side with us that sticks with us in the long run. I don't ever want someone to look at me and wonder why I didn't stand up for what I believed in. I don't want to see people around me hurting when I have the chance to do something about it. I don't think it's right to sit back and do nothing. Even if what I say doesn't make a difference, at least I will have had the courage to say it, to take a stand. That's important to me.

Stand up for what you believe in. Do what you think is right. Inactivity is almost worse than aggression and hate because inactivity perpetuates aggression and hate by allowing them to go on. There is a saying that always stuck with me which fits this very well:

First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

(Martin Niemoller, 1892-1984)

 Always stand up for what you think is right. Doing so can give other people around you the courage to do the same. At the very least, it allows you to sleep well at night knowing that you didn't sit idly by and allow the perpetuation of injustice.