Rosa Parks . . . Corrie ten Boom . . . Martin Luther . . . Ida B Wells . . . Mahatma Gandhi . . . Nelson Mandela . . . Dietrich Bonhoeffer . . .
These individuals — and others — have been on my mind as I’ve read news reports about the recent actions of several major corporations and the reactions from the media, politicians & celebrities, and average American citizens.
As I’ve listened and observed, I’ve come to a couple of troubling (to me, at least) conclusions.
1. The vast majority of us do not live on a day-to-day basis in accordance with the belief system or moral standards we claim to adhere to.
2. The vast majority of us, in regard to an issue which we feel strongly about, will share our opinions (on social media and elsewhere) and gripe & complain that the world is going to hell in a hand basket, but we won’t DO anything that causes even the slightest inconvenience to ourselves.
3. We also will never admit, as our culture moves further and further from the morals which we claim to espouse, that we are in large part responsible. We will never own up to the fact that our complacency, our laziness, our prioritizing personal comfort over standing up for what is right is exactly what has gotten us to where we are today.
As I’ve considered my own responses to various situations, I’ve been reminded of those individuals who stood up for what they believed to be right. Some lost friends, jobs, and families; some lost their personal freedom and spent many years in exile or in prison; and many lost their lives.
We express admiration of these individuals; we recognize them on their birthdays and teach our children about them. We celebrate Women’s History Month and Black History Month and Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day.
Lip service, at best.
Instead, I think it’s high time we begin honoring these brave individuals by emulating them. By standing up for what we believe to be right — by intentionally and consistently living according to our moral beliefs — without counting the personal cost.
(quote/meme courtesy of Pinterest)
