Every once in a while, a person comes along who stares injustice square in the face, stands their ground, and inspires a generation. In the 1950s, it was Rosa Parks. In 2026, it’s this man is swimming in the hotel pool 11 days after having diarrhea even though the pool rules require 14.
Wow…how deeply, stunningly brave. It’s men like this who make Rosa Parks’ actions look cowardly by comparison!
After a long day on the road, Kevin Schmidt Sr. only wanted to cool off in the pool of the Motel 6 he was staying at in Lenexa, KS. What he didn’t realize was that, despite being paying customers, not all Motel 6 guests were welcome to use the swimming amenities: The motel held a discriminatory policy prohibiting anyone who’s had diarrhea within the previous 14 days from entering their pool.
Kevin read Motel 6’s prejudice on a large sign boldly, shamelessly placed their outside the pool’s fence, and then crunched the numbers: He’d had diarrhea 11 days prior. Not 14. In the eyes of Motel 6, he was a lesser human being, simply because of the liquid nature of a bowel movement he’d had a week and a half ago.
Kevin stood before the sign wondering how many Motel 6 guests before him had been made to feel ashamed of their sort of recent diarrhea bout, and had sadly returned to their rooms, while privileged guests who hadn’t had diarrhea in at least two weeks frolicked in the pool. Then, Kevin did something incredible: He decided that he would not subject himself to the will of a system that did not regard recent-diarrhea-havers as fully human, and he began swimming in their pool anyway. He is still there now.
Wow. Don’t be surprised if Kevin is invited to the White House—this is the stuff Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients are made of!
If you’ve had diarrhea within the last 14 days and you didn’t tear up reading this, you simply don’t have a heart. By risking contaminating the Motel 6 pool with cryptosporidium parasites from his diarrhea in the name of his own humanity, Kevin has officially joined the ranks of our country’s bravest Civil Rights heroes, some of whom, like Rosa Parks, may be forgotten in the wake of Kevin’s extraordinary act. What an amazing role model Kevin is serving as for all Americans—well done, sir!
