Doing the Right Thing
“The time is always right to do the right thing,” Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us. It bears reminding that life presents us with that choice in countless moments, both big and small, every day. And it behooves us to recognize them. The three examples here help us do just that.
SPARTACUS’ MOST HEROIC ACT. There was a time when callers to the home of Kirk and Anne Douglas would hear, “Spartacus and I are not home right now, please leave a message.” The recording was a nod to what is probably the actor’s most iconic role—the Roman-slave-turned-gladiator whose moral outrage at the thought of fighting to the death for the entertainment of others leads him to mount a slave revolt that eventually spreads over half of Italy before being squelched by the Roman army.
In the movie’s penultimate scene, the Roman general demands that the slaves turn over Spartacus (or be executed)—only to see each slave in succession stand and proclaim, "I am Spartacus!", until the shouts become one brave, thundering testament to loyalty.
The Roman general demands that the slaves turn over Spartacus—only to see each slave in succession stand and proclaim, "I am Spartacus!"
Bravery and loyalty are sure to be common themes as the world remembers the life and work of Kirk Douglas, who died Wednesday at the age of 103. And his true legacy may be the way in which he embodied them off-screen. The story of how Douglas (also the producer of “Spartacus”) insisted that the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo be credited as screenwriter (following years of having to write under a pseudonym) is well known. Less known is just how risky that move was.
Douglas’ efforts helped end Hollywood’s Blacklist
Associating with a suspected communist could easily make oneself suspect, too—and being stamped “Un-American” had virtually ended the careers of Charlie Chaplin, John Garfield, Lee Grant (Douglas’ co-star in 1951’s “Detective Story”), and dozens of others.
Douglas was not alone in his efforts. Director Otto Preminger credited Trumbo with writing "Exodus," that same year (1960). And Trumbo’s wife, Cleo, has argued that while it took men like Preminger and Douglas to defy the studios, “it was primarily the efforts of blacklisted writers themselves that caused the blacklist to be broken.”
I think sharing the credit in no way diminishes the fact that one of Hollywood’s biggest stars took that era’s biggest risk because he knew it was “the right thing to do.”
ROMNEY ROCKS. Yes, Mitt Romney. The GOP’s blind adherence to party lines has been the real impenetrable “wall” of this administration—constitutional law and oaths before God be damned. But the Republican Senator from Utah had the sense—and character—to see past it.
Romney and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine were the only Republicans to break ranks and vote to allow additional witnesses and documents in the president’s impeachment trial. (An especially brave move for Collins who faces an uneasy reelection this November.) Romney then spoke (pictured, on February 5th) to why he was voting for impeachment, reminding us that while doing the right thing may be a choice, there are times when there is only one choice to make.
Mitt Romney on Wednesday, February 5th, speaking to his decision to vote for the president’s impeachment.
Romney: “What [the president did] was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security, and our fundamental values. Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I could imagine. Were I to ignore the evidence that has been presented and disregard what my oath and the constitution demands of me for the sake of a partisan end, it would, I fear, expose my character to history’s rebuke. And the censure of my own conscious. I’m aware that there are people in my party and my state that will strenuously disapprove of my decision. And in some quarters, I will be vehemently denounced. I’m sure to hear abuse from the president and his supporters. Does anyone seriously believe that I would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it of me.”
“I acknowledge that my verdict will not remove the president from office. The judgement of this senate court will, in fact, be appealed to a higher court—the judgement of the American people. Voters will make the final decision just as the president’s lawyers have implored. My vote will likely be in the minority in the senate. But irrespective of these things, with my vote, I will tell my children and their children that I did my duty to the best of my ability. Believing that my country expected it of me.”
To hope that Romney’s single act of defiance will have the kind of effect Kirk Douglas’ did is too much to wish for. But its effect on me is worth noting.
Romney concluded with, “I will only be one name among many, no more, no less, to future generations of Americans who look at the record of this trial. They will note merely that I was among the senators who determined that what the president did was wrong. Grievously wrong. We are all footnotes at best in the annals of history. But in the most powerful nation on earth; the nation conceived in liberty and justice, that distinction is enough for any citizen.”
When the political riptide has turned us so upside down that we’re not even sure what it means to be an American anymore, those words—from someone I would not expect to hear them from—"righted me.” The right thing to do, indeed.
COSMO’S STANCE A REMINDER OF WHAT REALLY MATTERS. Viewers of the February 3rd episode of “The Bachelor” saw the women who are vying for Peter Weber’s hand take part in a Cosmopolitan magazine photo shoot set against the backdrop of the Costa Rican jungle. Victoria Fuller was chosen to adorn the magazine’s digital March cover—but that cover will no longer happen.
“Unequivocally, the ‘White Lives Matter’ movement does not reflect the values of the Cosmo brand,” says editor-in-chief, Pels
Turns out that Fuller once modeled in an ad campaign wearing “White Lives Matter” attire. Upon learning this, Cosmo’s editor-in-chief, Jessica Pels immediately killed the cover, stating in the issue’s Editor’s Letter that, “Unequivocally, the ‘White Lives Matter’ movement does not reflect the values of the Cosmo brand.”
It’s been reported that Fuller was modeling for an organization called “Marlin Lives Matter,” who promoted their fight to prevent white and blue marlin from being overfished with “White Lives Matter” and “Blue Lives Matter” t-shirts and hats. “In my view, the nature of the organization is neither here nor there,” continued Pels. “Both phrases and the belief systems they represent are rooted in racism and therefore problematic.”
In closing, she reminded her readers (as Romney did his listeners) that it was the right—and only—thing to do, saying, “We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, and any cause that fights to end injustices for people of color.”
Having always been a champion of magazine media, I was happy to see the most widely read women’s magazine in the world champion the right cause. And in doing so, champion “doing the right thing”.