Speak Up

There is not one of us who has never come face to face with our own self righteousness, bitter opinions, or hatred. Those very things are the enemies of our souls. If we allow them to fester and do not deal with them, they will wreck havoc in our lives and the lives around us.

Blame becomes habitual, self grandiosity becomes a cloak to justify wrongdoing toward a selected enemy, and deception leads us into a smaller and smaller world where we blame our enemy for our own discomfort. It is a vicious cycle.

We cannot make another feel any different than they do. It is absolutely the responsibility of each of us to deal with our own strongholds within.

However, when another's "belief" of white supremacy, bigotry, and hatred are mixed to promote violence, destruction, and potential loss of life by an individual or a group of individuals, society, meaning, you and I, have the responsibility to speak out.

If we choose to not use our voices, if we allow hatred to rule the day, if we think what occurred in Charlottesville is not our problem then guess what... we are a part of the problem. We have allowed apathy for white supremacy, bigotry, and hatred to take root in our souls. We've justified our inaction, and in our silence, we give permission to those who would use hatred as a weapon to harm other human beings.

We all have a responsibility folks. If we don't speak out now, hatred is like a cancer, it will grow. Be aware, this type of cancer attacks not just individuals, but whole societies.

People can have their own beliefs, but no one should be allowed, in any way, to harm another for having a different skin color, a different religion, a different ethnic background, a different gender, a different orientation, or for standing up for a member of one of the aforementioned groups.

As Martin Luther king Jr said, "There comes a time when silence is betrayal."

Yes, we must allow freedom of speech, but that freedom is not translated to mean freedom of violence. There is no mistaking the fact that behind the white supremacist's rhetoric is violence. We must call an evil word or deed what it is... an evil. Otherwise, we are complicit with the one perpetuating the evil.

Each one of us has a choice to make. We must choose wisely.

White supremacy is wrong. Bigotry is wrong. Hatred is wrong. Violence is wrong.

There is no excuse for the violence that happened in Virginia today. It was wrong.