The Complexity of Being Human
The year was 2011 and I had just heard the news that one of my personal heroes, Greg Mortenson, had been caught in a series of lies. Mortenson was the author of the critically-acclaimed Three Cups of Tea, a book recounting his experiences as a mountain climber who after summitting the peak K2 came down the mountain, disoriented and dehydrated, and ended up in the remote Afghan village of Korphe. Here the local villagers and village chief took him in and nursed him back to health. As a way to repay those in Korphe for their hospitality, Mortenson offered to help the village build a school. This one school became the model for nearly 200 others across three countries that Mortenson would go on to fund through his nonprofit called the Central Asian Institute.
But as it turned out, Mortenson's story was too good to be true. It was revealed that he had fabricated his original story in that he had lied about his voyage to Korphe, which happened much later than his ascent of K2. Mortenson was also accused of mismanaging funds, using a disproportionate about of them on his own personal travel expenses relating to promoting his nonprofit. Mortenson had to strike a deal with then Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock to avoid any criminal charges and had to pay back $1 million to his nonprofit. While Mortenson was shown to be a shady character, the fact remains that his nonprofit did a world of good in creating nearly 200 schools in remote areas of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. The Machiavellian question that was raised was whether or not the ends ultimately justified the means. Answering that question simply depends on one's own personal ethics and how one views morality in this day and age.
Mortenson was not the first celebrity to exploit his story and he will not be the last. History is littered with the rise and fall of supposedly heroic men and women. But as recent history has shown us, sometimes those who have done a world of good have also violated the public trust. Lance Armstrong raised nearly $500 million for cancer research after winning 7 consecutive Tour de France titles. But Armstrong only won those titles after using steroids, an accusation he repeatedly denied before finally coming clean in 2013. JK Rowling became the first female author to become a billionaire through her Harry Potter series which inspired a generation of children to read and take metaphorical flight. Rowling was known for her charitable giving, including having given $19 million to start a neurology clinic at the University of Edinburgh. However, as this past Sunday showed, Rowling still has a horrific blind spot when it comes to the human rights and dignity of the transgender community, a fact that is deeply painful for an LGBTQIA community that had come to see her as a hero.
What we've seen over the past two weeks is that there are those in the United States who will still have the ability to surprise us or disappoint us based on their views. For every Drew Brees that drops the ball and fails to understand Black Lives Matter, there exists a Kanye West who steps up and gives $2 million to support the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. We now have boxing champion Floyd Mayweather, someone with a long and painful history of domestic violence, paying for George Floyd's funeral. We have New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, an admitted ally of Donald Trump, pledging $1 million to fight local system racism in Greater Boston. We even have Mitt Romney joining the DC march and Joel Osteen joining the Houston march, showing that some are even willing to be a public face of this emerging civil rights issue.
What we're seeing in America these past two weeks is a historic inflection point. We've reached a moment where the dam has burst, where the 400-year systemic oppression of black Americans has been beamed directly to a captive audience, forced inside by a global pandemic. Where for the first time, many white Americans saw, actually saw, the cold-blooded murder of a black man at the hands of local police. The fact that an officer of the law could so blatantly take the life of a subdued black man created a sense of shock and awe in white America. For many, the lightbulb suddenly went on: oh, THIS is what Colin Kaepernick and the whole Black Lives Matter thing was talking about. What had previously been something that seemed distant and remote suddenly felt close and real. Seeing the police brutality on the ground over the past two weeks has only advanced the conversation about the serious need for police reform in this country.
And so, what will emerge will be new allies in the fight. Some will offer financial support and nothing more. Others will join for a photo op and then disappear. Yet most will remain. Some that remain will have questionable histories as an ally. But for this historic moment, let's all revel in the fact that so many people are finally waking up to this historical injustice. The moral arc of the universe is slowly bending toward justice, as it always does. As it bends, it is picking up many folks we would not have considered allies 4 years ago or even 4 weeks ago. But here, at this moment, there are with us marching in the streets. There are no metaphorical gatekeepers at these marches. You don't have to have voted a certain way to attend. All you need is the knowledge that injustice is happening and something has to be done about it.
We need allies in this fight. While some will exploit their movement for their own personal gain (we see you, Michael Moore) the bulk of those getting involved will be doing so with their hearts in the right place. For those of us that have been in the trenches for many years, this might feel odd and uncomfortable. But we have to realize that human beings are complex and that we don't always "get it" when we should. For those white men and women finally awakening to the systemic injustices of black America, we welcome you to this fight. For those previous Republican supporters, we welcome you to this fight. To those with financial means who are giving seven-figure contributions, we welcome you to this fight. To those athletes and celebrities who are using their status to be vocal advocates for the very first time, we welcome you to this fight. And to our youngest generation attending marches and protests for the very first time, we welcome you to this fight. No matter how folks got here, what matters is that they're here, standing alongside us.
Now let's get to work.