The family had been excited about this vacation for months. They’d packed. They’d taken the time off work. They’d gotten everybody in the car and driven up to the Sierra Nevada mountains.
But as they pulled in to the little campsite in the mid 1950s, they saw a sign attached to the gate. “Whites Only,” it said. “No Colored Allowed.” The King family was white. The sign wasn’t designed to keep them out. But still, the father of Larry King (of tennis fame, not broadcasting) was adamant. “We’re not going in there,” Larry remembered his father saying. Even though some of the younger children cried. Even though everyone was disappointed and they didn’t have a plan B.
Larry King never forgot that experience. His parents had, of course, talked to him about fairness and equality and respect. They had spoken of kindness and doing the right thing. And then in a moment when it would have been easy to look the other way, when they were tired and had kids yelling at them, they had stuck to it. His future wife, the feminist tennis champion Billy Jean King, would later credit this experience with her husband’s support for women’s sports. In fact, he had often been more outraged at the indignities she was subjected to than even she was—that had been the sense of fairness he had seen his parents embody. He would not put up with it.
We have to teach our kids this. Or rather, as always, we have to show them this. Even when it’s expensive and inconvenient. Even if they don’t understand it in the moment. Even if it doesn’t seem like a big deal. Because it is. It’s a very big deal.
P.S. Ryan Holiday’s latest book Right Thing, Right Now shows us how we can all live with a stronger sense of justice and is a must-read for any parent who wants to instill a foundation of virtue in their children.
Because when we do the right thing in front of them when it matters most—like Larry King’s father did—we end up shaping the values they carry with them into the world.
Be prepared to show your kids what it means to do the right thing when the time comes by getting your copy of the book today!
