NormsMilfordBlog

The Best of Jack’s Winning Words – Originally sent April 20, 2021
“Always ask yourself what will happen if I say nothing.” (Kamand Kojouri) Each of us has probably been in a situation where we should have kept our mouth shut, or conversely, should have spoken up…but remained silent. One of my favorite Bible passages is Ecclesiastes 3. I like this interpretation: “There’s a time for everything. There’s a time to speak up…and a time to shut up.” One of my WW II heroes is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who spoke out against Hitler and lost his life because of it. When something is right or wrong, it’s our responsibility to speak up or to be complicit. Bonhoeffer is worth emulating. 😉 Jack

The news shows this weekend had stories about the mass protests that occurred over the weekend in various locations around the country. The video accompanying the stores showed hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people out on the streets protesting the actions of the current administration on a variety of issues, all of which boiled down to doing things that are just wrong.

Not everyone is comfortable taking up a sign and joining the protests on the streets and a part of that uncomfortable feeling is the realization that saying nothing against wrongs that need to be righted is a form of compliance or agreement with those wrongs. It’s not that they don’t agree that it is wrong, it mainly is that they fear being identified and perhaps retaliated against for expressing those feelings.
It is that fear of retaliation that the administration is promoting and counting on to keep people inline – especially the people in their own political party. Some in the ruling party have even come out and stated that they fear retaliation if they take a stand in line with their own conscious or convictions. How sad for America.

Sad also is the timid response and lack of leadership of the opposition party. As Jack pointed out, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was willing to risk his life to speak out against the atrocities for the Nazi regime. Many, if not most, of our current day politicians are not willing to risk their political lives (careers) to speak out against what they know is wrong. Instead, they stare down at their shoes in hopes that they can wait this nightmare out.

Politicians on both sides are being pummeled in town hall meetings when they go back home, mainly for their cowardice. The importance of the demonstrations in those town hall meetings and in the streets cannot be overstated. It is only through creating greater fear in the politicians about being voted out of office that these political cowards will be forced to take action to correct what is happening. They must fear the anger of the voters more than they fear retaliation from the administration for doing what is right.

So, ask yourself the question that Kamand Kojouri posed – “What will happen if I say nothing?” The answer to Kojouri’s question is that nothing will change unless you say something. Jack would be out there if he were here today. Stop staring at your shoes and join the protest in support of doing the right things.