Is it Right? … (06/27/13)
When faced with any new challenge, Cowardice always steps forth first and asks the question, “Is it safe?”
And before we can even begin to evaluate this query, Expediency then raises its voice and asks, “Is it effective?”
And then, while we are mulling those over, Vanity sneaks up behind us and whispers the question, “And is it popular?”
We live in flagrant times, my Friends; times where the vile injustices of our government and the cold callousness of our culture and the brutal lies of our preachers are being brought to the light; times where we are being called — nay demanded — to respond to the evils that stand so defiantly before us.
And I wonder this morning: how will we respond?
Will we listen to the voices of our past — the cowardice that has kept us complacent in the face of travesty & corruption? … the expediency that has kept us isolated from our neighbors? … the vanity that has kept us cowering in the background; afraid to take a stand?
Maybe so … Maybe you too will continue to ignore the Call to Action. Maybe you too will go back to watching your “boob-tube” or “having fun” or placidly praying for God to swoop down and fix things.
Fair enough…
And yet please be aware that the consequences of such continued cowardice will be the destruction of all that we Love, and ultimately the extinction of our species as well. Nothing short of life itself is at stake — both the quality of our lives today, and the life on our entire planet in the not-so-far future.
AND YET, how fortunate for us all that there is another choice within us; that there is another voice that speaks of courage in the face of fear and resistance in the face of evil … How fortunate for us all that we have a conscience within us that asks not whether an act is safe or effective or popular, but rather asks one question and one question only:
“Is it RIGHT?”
And by “Right” this voice doesn’t mean conservative, and it doesn’t mean correct.
It means JUST …
It means CARING …
It means UNIFYING …
It Means COMPASSIONATE …
It means KIND.
So here we are; together facing humanity’s next great Time of Trial. In the past, as a species we have repeatedly made choices that have led us ever further into the darkness. We have cowered … We have hated … We have rebelled in anger … We have justified our inaction in the delusions of “faith”, and rationalized our cowardice with the myths of hopelessness.
In essence, we have shrugged our shoulders and looked away while the world has continued to crumble around us.
We can repeat these choices again, of course, and yet they will bring no better fruit now than they brought us before. Every time these paths of weakness have been tread, they have failed us — they have failed us completely & they have failed us miserably.
No, my Friends, it is high-time we chose anew.
It is high-time we stood together tall & strong …
It is high-time for us to REBEL.
It is time we rebel against hatred with Compassion.
It is time we rebel against war with Peace.
It is time we rebel against injustice with Forgiveness.
It is time we rebel against greed with Giving.
It is time we rebel against the leaders of our churches and our economies and our governments, not by protesting them or attacking them or overthrowing them, but rather by having the courage to IGNORE THEM — to go forth each day and rebuild our nations from their foundations up, by rebuilding or communities — and by rebuilding them OURSELVES.
In essence, we must choose to literally BECOME the change we want to see …
We need to be the change we want to see in our homes,
we need to be the change we want to see in our neighborhoods,
we need to be the change we want to see in our schools and in our workplaces and in our churches and on our streets.
And once we finally choose to walk THIS way, when we finally remember that it is WE & WE ALONE who determine how our societies will grow and thrive and be, … then the time will finally have come when we begin to heed the long-ignored voice of our collective conscience.
The time will finally have come when we begin to evolve from mere homosapiens to Human(e) Beings.
The time will finally have come when we learn to Live as ONE.
The time will finally have come for LOVE.
May today be the day when the chronicles of history document the arrival of such a time … Amen
(~ inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr)
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