Do The Right Thing.

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I have a lot of stickers on my Jeep - a harley sticker (of course), the prince symbol (of course), the abide logo from the big lebowski, SEMPER FI/Marine stickers, an Edisto Sticker, a peace sign and a pink unicorn. And don't even get me started about the stickers on my Mando case! Stickers on cars can be hilarious, political, religious ways to express our beliefs. The Stick figure families, star wars stick figure families, Zombie stick figure families and the animal stick figures. My favorite are the ones say things like 'My honor student is smarter than your stick figure family'. The point is that stickers help us express ourselves and show what we are for, what we are against, what makes us laugh or what makes us who we are.  
I just bought a new sticker for my JEEP. It says DO THE RIGHT THING. Dennis asked me what it meant and why was I putting it on the Jeep. (he thought there was hidden meaning). I told him it meant exactly what it says. A bumper sticker that has been on My Uncle Big Ken's truck for years said Do the right thing. Up until I hit my 50s, I didn't really understand the importance of this - but Big Ken did. It hit me all of a sudden about 2 weeks ago. I started looking for this bumper sticker online and I could not find it. So, I created my own sticker. Why is this all of a sudden so impacting that I want to put it on my truck? In 1989, I saw Spike Lee's DO THE RIGHT THING. This movie impacted me greatly. It was a study in racism between Italians, latinos and blacks in Brooklyn New York. It has an incredible cast. It left me affected for a long time. I remember telling people at the time to do the right thing. If you've never seen it, it is a classic out of the Spike Lee repertoire and if you believe in social studies - this is one for the history books.  
One of Representative Lewis' mantras is get in 'good trouble'. That means to stand up for what is right. In recent days, with the #metoo and #times up movements, it is more important than ever to do the right thing. While some people argue the bandwagon is just getting full by people jumping on in this movement - I look at that gymnastics doctor from Michigan state - over 250 young girls have come out against him. This makes my heart hurt because if just one adult who knew had done the right thing during the 20+ years he committed these crimes, there wouldn't be 250 of these young women coming forward. ICK. JUST ICK. It takes BOTH parties in a situation like this to do the right thing. That guy wasn't ever going to stop and the little girls who were brave enough to tell adults were let down by adults who did not believe them, or were afraid to do something about it.  
Do the right thing means speak up when someone is getting bullied, harassed, molested, abused verbally/physically/mentally, discriminated against for race, gender, religion; it means don't ENABLE people; it means TEACH don't assume or abandon. Fight for justice. We all grew up being taught right from wrong. Somewhere along the lines we as a society have lost sight of this. We all know what is right, even when it may not be socially acceptable or popular - this is what is wrong with our government because both the left and right aren't willing to work together to do what is right for the country, for the people. I have to pay homage to Big Ken - he was my Curly from City Slickers - Curly tells Billy Crystal to find that one thing that is the secret of life and stick to it. I believe this is my one thing, and that is to DO THE RIGHT THING.

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