The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.
Dante Alighieri
It is not by chance that Dante’s ninth circle of Hell is the abode of traitors. He was perpetually exiled from his home Florence by his political opponents because he sought political and moral freedom. Of course, he could have avoided the whole mess by keeping his mouth shut and going with the flow.
While the wisest and best moral course is generally that which occupies the middle ground between extremes. (Errors most often come in polar opposite pairs.) However, the middle ground must not be the silent ground, but the voice of reason.
Admittedly the ground between two warring factions is the most dangerous place on the battlefield. That should never be a deterrent to mounting one’s soapbox there. Before the truth can be accepted, it must be heard. Being heard demands a speaker. It is worthy to note that in Christian scripture a word often used to describe a person’s manner of life is his/her conversation. Speaking the truth is more than words. It is an unbowed affirmation, in word and deed, of what a person believes to be right.
I am unashamedly biased. I don’t care what color, gender, culture, or faith a person may be, if they are taking a stand for truth, and justice tempered by freedom for everyone, I am ready to stand with them to fight on both fronts.
Americans don’t appreciate our liberty. Most think it is the norm around the world. It is not. That is why when our government tries to impose freedom and republican ideals in other countries and cultures, it fails. They have no concept of the personal freedoms we take for granted.
Sadly, we are surrendering those freedoms daily and celebrating ourselves for doing it. The equity and collectivism we are told to embrace lead to mediocrity, sloth, and lockstep march downhill to conformity that cares nothing for reason.
As a nation, we are teaching it to our young, modeling it to one another, and imposing it on the resistant. This is a path away from reason and truth that leads to either slavery or revolution.
It is our moral duty to ourselves and our fellow citizens to step from nonexistent neutrality into No Man’s Land and cry out for freedom.
Sic Semper Tyrannis
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