So we strive valiantly (most of us) to be better people, to do more of the right thing and less of the ‘bad’, I believe that we, as people aspire to be better, to do more good, why then do we fail so dismally? Even though we consciously decide to ‘take a stand’ against injustice, dishonestly etc. it seems that the universe rebels, as if the substance of stuff retaliates. ‘Substance of stuff’ indeed, basically the way that temptation to do wrong is so much more enticing, why is the ‘doing good’ option so untempting, so ‘not sexy’? It’s as if the world wants us to function in the grey and it takes solace from the fact that we won’t do anything out of kilter but just function and ‘go with the flow’ even if the flow is wrong, it’s so much easier to follow it…
Maybe it has to do with that age-old notion that for evil to succeed good men just need to do nothing, the problem is that sometimes the ‘doing’ that they do is not good enough, too grey, not explicitly right, and maybe that’s more of the issue, those of us that want to do more good want to do it in a manner that’s not too conspicuous, we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves, we don’t want to be embarrassed, and in trying to be low-key in our battle for good the goodness gets diluted, or lost in the grey, cos the ‘grey’ is so strong, and then hence our sense of failure or lack of conviction in our strive for success.
What we need is to blow the sh1t out of the grey, to make sure that when we take a stand, do the right thing it’s as obvious and deliberate as a cracker going off during a prayer service, and we need to stand by our decision, support it, show that we truly believe in it and will stand our ground for it, even against overwhelming odds (which they will be). We can’t expect our expression and conviction for good to be based on whether or not it fits the context of the bad we’re trying to change, it must be the bad that is forced to take notice of the good (even fear it a bit) by the mere fact that we are there championing it, openly, without compromise, to whatever end and to whatever consequence we ourselves are willing to accept, but beware, to succeed in the ‘goodness’ of battle, the end and/or consequences may be more than we can or are willing to accept, but we MUST!
Maybe it has to do with that age-old notion that for evil to succeed good men just need to do nothing, the problem is that sometimes the ‘doing’ that they do is not good enough, too grey, not explicitly right, and maybe that’s more of the issue, those of us that want to do more good want to do it in a manner that’s not too conspicuous, we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves, we don’t want to be embarrassed, and in trying to be low-key in our battle for good the goodness gets diluted, or lost in the grey, cos the ‘grey’ is so strong, and then hence our sense of failure or lack of conviction in our strive for success.
What we need is to blow the sh1t out of the grey, to make sure that when we take a stand, do the right thing it’s as obvious and deliberate as a cracker going off during a prayer service, and we need to stand by our decision, support it, show that we truly believe in it and will stand our ground for it, even against overwhelming odds (which they will be). We can’t expect our expression and conviction for good to be based on whether or not it fits the context of the bad we’re trying to change, it must be the bad that is forced to take notice of the good (even fear it a bit) by the mere fact that we are there championing it, openly, without compromise, to whatever end and to whatever consequence we ourselves are willing to accept, but beware, to succeed in the ‘goodness’ of battle, the end and/or consequences may be more than we can or are willing to accept, but we MUST!
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