Dad couldn't be prouder of what his little girl did that got her suspended.
A dad shared a story about his daughter on Reddit that’s been getting some traction online. He shared that he got a “dreaded call” from his daughter’s school, telling her that she was suspended. When he found out why, he couldn’t be prouder.
“Some of my daughter's classmates were using Google translate to taunt another classmate that doesn't speak English, saying him and his family will be deported now. I won't go into details, but my daughter did just enough,” said the dad. “Needless to say, I'm so incredibly proud of her. She was the one who stood up and stopped it by the means she thought was right.”
The girl did more than just write on her hands.Photo credit: Canva
The father shared that even the school didn’t seem to want to punish her daughter, but felt that they had to do so because of the school’s strict rules and “zero tolerance and all that.”
Other fathers threw in their two cents on the situation in the comments section:
“Good job raising a great daughter.”
“You take that star stand up citizen of a kid out for ice cream, a movie, and a giant tub of popcorn.”
“A good lesson in ‘do the right thing despite the consequences’.”
To that comment, the dad replied, “100%. And she took the "consequences" on the chin, too. I'm going to do my part to make sure she knows she's not in trouble. I'm taking the next 3 days off work, too. And we're going to live it up.”
The fellow dads continued to praise the father’s reaction and his daughter’s actions, offering suggestions for activities for the daughter’s three-day break from school.
Doing the right thing isn’t always easy and often has consequences that don’t benefit the “hero” of a situation. Sometimes the right thing is defending the harassed personally, like this young girl did for her classmate. Other times it’s to peacefully but firmly protest, much like in the Civil Rights movement and the “good trouble” that the late John Lewis described that often ended with protesters getting arrested.
Offering your hand to help someone doesn't always come with a reward.Photo credit: Canva
However, doing the correct thing doesn’t always end with a loving dad rewarding you for your actions. The range of consequences for doing the right thing varies from suspension from classes for performing schoolyard justice to death sentences carried out to now-historical figures that we celebrate today.
Susan B. Anthony is celebrated as a person who fought against slavery and battled for women’s rights, including the right to vote, but was often scorned, ridiculed, and arrested for her “disruption.” In Nazi Germany, pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer vocally protested anti-Semitism in his country and was executed for his part in a failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was often vilified during his time for his actions to fight for Civil Rights, and was ultimately assassinated. Their actions weren’t rewarded, but they had a major impact for actual change while inspiring others to follow in their footsteps to do what is just.
MLK got into a lot of trouble for doing the right thing.Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
You don’t need to do big gestures like these people did to defend the weak and do what’s right. This young girl just saw something wrong and proceeded to do what action she felt was right to correct the wrongdoing. For you, your response to something that isn’t right depends on your resources and ability. If you’re a person with a specific set of skills, you can use your skills to help the victimized. For example, a contractor could assist people who have lost their home to a disaster or a lawyer can provide legal counsel to a person being unjustly imprisoned. If you’re financially fortunate, you can donate money and time to a foundation that’s actively fighting an injustice you see. If you’re neither of these things, you can still just step in to say, “Hey, stop!” whenever you see a form of bullying at school, work, or at home. You won't get rewarded, in fact you'll sacrifice money and time, along with other hassles. But it'll bring some good along with the trouble.
Essentially, be bold and fight for others like this little girl. You might not get three days worth of fun in the end, but it’ll make the world just a little bit better.