“Ye without sin cast the first stone”?

Of late, we have been hearing lots of moral advice from all side of the spectrum, both from the liberal and conservative camps. There is nothing wrong about “preaching” morality. It is important that we, as a society, teach our children the value of being a morally conscientious human being. But only teaching our children will not do for adults also need to be taught and reminded again and again of the importance and value in living a virtuous life. At times, adults need more encouragements to be virtuous. They need daily reminders that living a conscientious moral life is to live for the well-being of others regardless of the cost to oneself. This means that at times we must confront evil. Hence, the act of speaking out against immorality is neither wrong nor unwelcome. But, before we put our two pennies worthy, it would be wise to reflect on our own past, present and future. It is easy to forget our own propensity toward evil thoughts and actions. We all have the potential both for evil and good. It is a constant reality that manifest itself out in our decisions, which each of us make daily, regardless of whether those decisions were made in full cognizance or not. True that most of us cannot imagine the unfathomable evil, e.g., the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, the Rwanda Genocide, Pol Pot, the Japanese Imperial Armies rape, as part of us all. We cannot fathom orchestrating or assisting the demise of human beings just because of their ethnical background. But, at the same time, we must be aware of the simple fact that we are not people of a particular period and place. Honestly, are we real to believe that if we were born white and living around the early part of the 1900s that we would protest and speak against lynching? Most likely not, and if we do believe that we would have protested and marched against the lynching of black bodies, then we are not being truly honest with ourselves. We are all product of our particular time and place. Thus, it is easier to speak out against lynching because many of us find such practice horrifying. It is always easy to make a stand against evil when we are aware that most believe a particular activity is evil. Most of us are against racism and believe racism is evil because society in large have judge against the practice of systematic racism. But, can we be sincerely honest with ourselves so as to say that we could and would fight for interracial marriage during the 1920s? Could we have stand and fight against the mob as they prepare to lynch a black person? Could we have stand and fight against the genocide of Native Americans during the 19th century? It is easier to speak and protest against immorality and evil when we are not pioneers in our protest and fight against immorality and evil.