Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks

Here we are. It’s Monday, and because it’s January, we’re kind of in the middle of Black History Month. I thought we would continue on the path of talking about some great people in our history who made great strides. One of those, obviously, is Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks, everybody knows, famously said no. She was sitting in the back of the bus after a really long, hard day, and she was told to stand so that other white riders could sit. She said no. Later on, she talked about how you should never fear doing what you know is right.

Never fear what you’re doing when you know it’s the right thing to do. You should never be afraid of it.

We’ve experienced throughout our history in time some really great things. I’ve got to spend some time reading with my boys, and especially Jonathan now that he’s nine. We were reading about George Washington Carver last night. We were talking about him and some of the adversity he ran up against just because of bigotry and the time he lived in. But he never let that time in his life prevent him from growing, and he never got bitter about situations. He just continued to trudge ahead, and he made so many great transitions in life.

While it’s not right what happened to him or to Rosa Parks or to so many people in history, I think it begs the question that we always recognize that even when something is not going quite the way we want it to and it’s not “fair” in life—and I would imagine that all of us have experienced some sort of unfairness in life, maybe not obviously to the degree people like Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks experienced, but still the same, not fair.

It’s our attitude in the process of how we handle it and do it the right way that we end up being remembered in the long term. It hones our character. It shows our character.

People probably thought pretty negatively of Rosa Parks in general. Especially amongst a certain demographic in the area she lived in. But she goes down in history long term. Leaders go first. They make hard decisions, but when they make the right decisions, great things happen. That’s why transparency is one of our core values and investment. We own it. Sometimes we have to make hard decisions and do the right thing and go against the flow, go against the grain of the social norms because it’s the right thing to do. I think it’s important, right at this time, to just recognize the past for what it was so that we can build upon a better future for all.

It’s good sometimes to look in that rearview mirror and realize that we came from a pretty soiled past and how we did things. But I think it’s really important for us as we move forward to, out of respect and love, to continue to advance our movement in the right way, doing the right things for all of us. We’re going to experience more things over time that need to be done right, regardless. And sometimes we might be the first. We might be a person that’s put into a position to be Rosa Parks, sitting on a bus, and you have to say no.

You have to stand against the tyranny and the problem. I hope it never happens to you, I really kind of do. But if it does, if it does happen to us, we have the courage to do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.

Alright, guys, have a beautiful week. Enjoy your Monday. God bless you because nothing less will do. Be valuable, and I will talk to you next week.