When good remain silent in the face of their neighbour’s oppression, they stop being good people.

Wow. I wrote that. Who the hell do I think I am? Really? Why must I speak publicly? Why can I not simply work quietly behind the scenes at trying to make change?

You can do both.

Here’s the thing – when you stand up and become publicly accountable in support of an oppressed group or people you are noticed. If 10,000 people hate you for it but one isolated member of that group gains a fraction of hope it is worth it.

We, all of us, look for rays of light in the dark. That must be us. That must especially be our leaders. We have no right to conveniently hide behind a job or a position if we can do anything to lessen the burden on others. We must. Silence, as Wiesel, Bonhoeffer and many other have said, is not an option.

Of course, sadly, it is an option. In the real world. That world where we fear what people think of us; that world where we have been taught that compassion is weakness; that any suggestion we might be doing something wring sends us into fits of defensiveness; that world where we are told to “MAN UP”, “SUCK IT UP”, “GET OVER IT” etc. You know the world. It’s the world where you are told to shut up and move one.

Change is hard. Oppression is harder. Hate is hardest.