Speaking Out

Of late, all of us have been hearing lots of advice on morality from all political-ideological-theological spectrums, from both the Right and the Left camps. There is nothing wrong about “preaching” on morality or virtue. It is important that we, as a society, teach our children the value of being a morally conscientious human being, who is also gracious and forgiving. But only teaching our children will not do, because adults also need to be taught and reminded again and again on the importance of living a virtuous life. At times, adults need to hear more about the importance of living a morally-conscientious life. They need daily reminders that living a conscientious moral life is to live for the well-being of others. This means that there is a cost and the cost means that at times we must confront the evil befalling on our “neighbors.” We must speak against injustice because ultimately the judgment of our actions will be on how we treat the least among us (cf. Matthew 25:31-46).

The act of speaking out against immorality is essential if we are to confront the injustice befalling onto our weakest and voiceless “neighbors.” But, before we put our two pennies worth, it would be wise to reflect on our own past, present, and future. It is easy to forget our own propensity toward evil in thoughts and actions. We all have the potential for both 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 camps, as part of who we are. We cannot fathom seeing ourselves as orchestrating or assisting the demise of human beings because of their ethnical and religious background. But, at the same time, we must be completely sincere to ask the most fundamental question of “What would I have done if I was there?” That is, are we in all honesty really able to say that if we had been born white and living around the early part of the 1900s that we would protest and speak against lynching and racism? Can we say that we would have marched against Jim Crow if we were born as a White-Southerner man? 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 because the question remains: what are we doing against the ugly state of affairs against our gay brothers and sisters currently plaguing our nation? Also, what are we doing against the dehumanization of illegal immigrants in this country? What actions are we taking to fight against the big-powerful financial companies exploiting the most financial vulnerable people in our country? Most of us are merely watching from the comfort of our living room. And we may raise a few voices of concern here and there, but in the end we are doing from a safe place where no ultimate consequence would befall us.

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 beastly horrifying. It is always easy to make a stand and speak out against evil when it is safe to stand and speak out against evil. We can all speak out against racism because we know that in large society sees racism as evil. 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 out and protest against immorality and evil when we are confident that there is no real cost in standing against injustice. The cost of standing against injustice has a tremendous price tag because there is no such thing as free justice. This may give us reason to stay quiet or to stay on the side line, but such stance is much more costly because it robs us of our humanity and it also shackles us to the chain of fear. By doing nothing, we become nothing – that is, we become less than human or no longer human. We also become slave, bound to fear and to merely living life. True freedom is the empowerment to live for life and not merely living life. Our silence in times of injustice silences our humanity, thus we become a bit less human by becoming enslaved and not free. And, in the end, we become no different from those who are pushing for inhumane, unfair, and injustice policies in this country and in the world. When we are silent against injustice, we speak for injustice.