The courage to stand

I have been following a situation recently that turned increasingly acrimonious in a very short space of time. I say I have been following it because today I acknowledge that I had chosen a stance of passivity, outward looking in, but not prepared to roll up my sleeves and get involved.

I asked myself some tough questions today after taking a step inwards and seeing it from a different perspective. The assailant in this situation came across as arrogant - entitled to spew contempt and venom at another with such hostility that I was quite shocked when I learned of it.

Yet, I chose to do nothing. The energy required to make a stand in support of the receiver of these attacks I didn't seem to have within me and it was cowardly as I chose the path of least resistance, the "I don't want to get involved" route which is such a cop-out and in that moment I not only failed to stand for someone who didn't deserve the onslaught, but I also failed within myself to come to the defense and aid of another; the same way that I would hope I would come to my own defense if I had been in that position.

It is not a hard thing to do, or a difficult decision to make. In fact I am no stranger to making difficult decisions and living with the consequences of them after the fact, but this time I failed. I not only failed myself, but I also failed my friend. I failed to uphold my own morals and ethics because of my own weakness and I regret that far more than I would have regretted the possible reprisal that came had I stood up to the injustice as I would have at the least then been justified in my actions.

Choosing passivity over action purely for convenience sake is what is wrong with so many parts of the world today. People choose to stay in their little bubble of safety while the rest of the world bleeds at the hands of those who have become accustomed and quite comfortable knowing that the average person would rather choose to be a by-stander rather than gear up and step into the fray.

I failed this time and I was that average person. I acknowledge it because I know that I too am human just as much as the next but I would have thought of myself as stronger than that in the moment.

We are reminded every day of the choices we make and while some people choose to ignore them and will not take ownership of the consequences, today I sit with a heavy feeling of failure and regret. There are opportunities to be a better human when these things arise and to rally to the side of the righteous, if we want to start fixing the myriad of social ills that plague our kind.

While I am by no means a Helen of Troy, I'd like to believe that should this happen again, I will rise up as a Spartan and protect the person that is being harassed by someone that seriously needs to be addressed by the general folk: us. You and me alike.

Tomorrow I will fail again in some sense or another, it is inevitable, but I'm choosing to fail in a more spectacular nature than this low form I was today. I have apologized to my friend, but I know that is simply not enough.

We need more humility and more humanity. It starts within each of us, not outside of one's self.