On doing the right thing

I found this post from Ta Nehisi Coates at The Atlantic to be incredibly moving.

I was looking at this picture of Obama’s grandparents and thinking how much he looks like his grandfather. And suddenly, for whatever reason, I was struck by the fact that they had made the decision to love their daughter, no matter what, and love their grandson, no matter what. I’d bet money that they never even thought of themselves as courageous, that they didn’t give much thought to the broader struggles in the the world at the time. They were just doing what right, honorable people do. But the fact is that, in the 60s, you could be disowned for falling in love with a black woman or black man…

We often give a pass to racists by noting that they were “of their times.” Fair enough, and I know Hawaii was a different beast, but still, today, let us speak of people who were ahead of their times, who were outside of their times. Let us remember that Barack Obama learned the great lessons of life from courageous white people. Let us speak of those who do what  normal, right people should always do when faced with a child–commit an act love. Here’s to doing the right thing.

We all know that Obama has traveled to Hawaii to be with his grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, who is gravely ill and might not live to see the results of the election on November 4th. Madelyn’s daughter and grandson are testaments to her life and the sacrifices she made to support them. I wish this woman who did the right thing by demonstrating the courage to love…peace.