I was looking for a way to phrase the question, but here is the quick backstory.  I am watching the movie, The Express: The Ernie Davis Story, right now.  Good movie!  it’s about Ernest Davis the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy.  It is heartbreaking to me to see some of the things the three young African Americans on Syracuse’s football went through simply because they wanted to play football and they wanted an education.  But what I found remarkable (and I admit I don’t know much about Ernie Davis, so I am not sure if this story accurately portrays everything) is that this young man went about changing minds with dignity.  I imagine it would have been easy for him to call his transgressors names, to hit back, but he rarely did.  He stuck to who he was, and didn’t change to suit those around him.  I can recall a few times when I was in high school, and we know high school can be tough, the outcasts and ‘weirdos’ were picked on.  And as I recall, there were a few times I said nothing, I am ashamed to say I might have even joined in once or twice.  But I remember one time, I was in ninth grade and there was a girl.  She was tiny, awkward, didn’t dress ‘right,’ and she was painfully shy.  I was walking down the hall, and heard people laughing, Anna (that was her name) had tripped and fallen, dropping her books and pencils everywhere.  No one stopped to help her, in fact a few boys kicked things out of the way, people laughed, and when I got to the crowd I looked at her and saw one tear slip down her cheek.  This girl had never done anything to any of us, she never had a harsh word for anyone, and no one stopped to help her.  In that moment, I remember my mom telling me to be myself.  That the ‘group’ isn’t always right.  I told one of the boys to stop being a jerk and bent to help Anna pick up her things.  She looked at me, and I think she wondered if I had some ulterior motives, but when she saw I was sincere she thanked me.  We went our own ways after that, but the next day she smiled at me when I walked down the hall with my friends, I smiled back.  The next day she said hi, and I said hi back.  Some of my friends even said hi to her too.  The next thing I knew she was sitting with us at lunch.  Anna was funny, smart and she became one of my best and loyal friends.  She came to my swim meets and cheered me on, when I had the chicken pox and was hospitalized she brought me my homework.  All because I looked and saw a tear.

I followed both my heart and my head that day.  I saw something I felt was wrong, and I did what I felt was right.