“One need not hope in order to undertake; nor succeed in order to persevere.” –William I, Prince of Orange
I love this quotation, which I’ve seen attributed to William I. It calls into question the nature of “success.” What is truly important, if one must choose between the two? Who we become? or What we achieve? What values will we uphold? Do we defend the right, or shift positions to align ourselves with the apparent “winning side”?
When it is apparent that, facing war, violence, or socio-political injustice, there is nothing one can do to affect the course of events, that the tide is moving in the wrong direction and we feel that nobody recognizes the fact–or nobody seemingly dares to speak truth to power, do we keep silent for fear of being different, ostracized, attacked, killed, or ridiculed? Do we try to quit caring, because we cannot do anything to change what is? Do we keep silent because we are afraid to find out that other people think we’re stupid to care about the matter at all?
I find myself quite often out of step with what is happening around me. So, too, does a favorite poet, C. S. MacCath, who feels a deep conviction to speak out against the annual killing of baby seals: The Annual Hay Island Seal Slaughter.
While I do not feel that any of us is called to be a passionate advocate for every just cause, to keep silent when we do feel that call to speak, which is as legitimate an action as any other, we owe it to ourselves and to the world to step forward and speak the words that are given to our hearts to speak.
Cross-posted from The Written Word Journal.
It isn’t always easy to speak up. Even – especially? – when it’s the right thing to do. {rueful smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
Yeah, ain’t it! I’ve been in a position to think seriously about it myself, these past few months. Lots of time–most of the time–it’s little things in life that drag me down. Cheating on my moral stance on little things that in and of themselves seem insignificant…until they form a pattern or habit one would just as soon not have.
I wrote a poem about that, come to think about it, for a series of Lenten meditations, back when I was attending Olivet Lutheran Church. Right decisions tend to have both uncomfortable and far reaching consequences. But one sleeps better.
Yeah. If it was big, I could resist, but little things take time to add up. (Just one more game on Facebook… {rueful smile}) I tell myself that’s not really a moral stance… but the games become more impotant than the people and reltaionships they distract me from. I mean to put friends and family first, and that is a moral. {Smile}
Could you share that poem, or tell me where to link to it? It sounds like one I’d like to print out, and put right next to the poem of yours about leaving groups that no longer fit. I found the latter one very helpful when I had trouble changing my attitude towards one or another group I don’t fully fit into. {Smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
I have added a page, The Faces of Jesus. Back in 1993, while I was a member of a Lutheran church, I was asked to write some calls to worship for the midweek services. The one about consequences is “Thursday: Gethsemane”: http://wp.me/PmyPA-5A