What is the definition of a hero?
I like the quote by our own Ralph Waldo Emerson that, “A hero is no braver than an ordinary man,
but he is brave five minutes longer.”
You may have seen the recent news story about the Houston, Texas waiter
who refused to serve a customer because he asked to move his family to another
table to be further away from a child with Down’s Syndrome who was sitting
nearby with his family. Further, the
customer reportedly said to the waiter, Michael Garcia, that “Special needs
children need to be special somewhere else.”
Garcia responded by telling the customer that he was not able to serve
him. He also asked him how he could say
that “about a beautiful 5-year-old angel?”
Since the incident, Garcia has been the object of media attention,
celebration and pats on the back from restaurant customers eager to thank him
for his five minutes of bravery.
What was it about Garcia’s act of defiance that caused such an
outpouring of love and support? Could it
be that they saw in Garcia what they could not see in themselves? A willingness to take a stand? The courage to risk retribution and possibly
injury/loss of job/loss of prestige to do what they think is right?
As Unitarian Universalists, we are compelled to be heroes every day of our lives. Our faith requires us to speak out against injustice in whatever form we find it. It requires us to be brave five minutes at a time.
Thank goodness for people like Michael Garcia. He reminds us of the hero in all of us and the need to stay true to our values and to ourselves. As George F. Kennan wrote, “Heroism is endurance for one moment more.”
Mark Bernstein
CERG Growth Consultant and UUA Liaison to Equual Access
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