Someone has to stand up

 
This last semester I had the opportunity to be a teaching fellow in a Modern Western Civ class. One week we had a discussion about the Holocaust and the choices many people made leading up to the death of millions of people. I asked the class if they thought something similar could happen today. They said that if they respected a leader enough or if enough people just didn't care. I'm afraid we're reaching that point again.
   I would like to share the story of Martin Niemoller who came out as a political foe of Adolf Hitler. I want to share the whole story of the man who shared the sound bite "First they came for the Socialists"

Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.

Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for the quotation:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
 
  his point was that Germans—in particular, he believed, the leaders of the Protestant churches—had been complicit through their silence in the Nazi imprisonment, persecution, and murder of millions of people.

When we don't speak out when it is someone else, we are complicit in their suffering and laying the ground work in our own suffering...

My talk of standing up sounds so heroic and yes there is a certain measure of actually standing up for beliefs, for telling someone no if their actions go against your moral or ethic code.  Or not believing what the news is trying to feed you.

And there is another way to stand up, to not be another person who implicitly allows "anything goes".  That is raising your children to respect the word 'No" to raise them with love, discipline and boundaries, help them understand that life isn't always hard and it's not meant to be easy. We live in a world with trophies for every kid who participates, with kids who bad-mouth policemen and students who have their parents make excuses for them. I just came across the story of a 12 yr old boy who might face life in prison for killing his father's pregnant fiance. How is this possible? Because we live in a time when the world says anything goes... We must begin telling our children 'no' and preparing them for a world where they have to work for them to succeed. I love this quote:





We have the power to change the world, if only we will empower ourselves to teach the children in our sphere. I have never raised children of my own flesh and blood, but I have tutored and worked with a young man since he was very young, I've worked with debate students since my junior year in high school (I'm now a super senior in college) and I teach 15 yr olds in Sunday School. I have a wide sphere of teenager influence. Which means I too need to do my part in helping instill in them a strong work ethic and a desire for a better world that they can be successful in. We each can use our sphere of influence to help children and remind ourselves that discipline simply sets us free.

-Alison

An Introduction to My Take on this Crisis

  Do we even know what this flag even means anymore? Many have called it a rascist symbol. Those who tell you that have a far from patriotic agenda for this country. This flag stands for the dream of the Founders, that liberty truly could be for everyone. This country has fought so many wars in defense of the land of the free...this IS a blessed land, but only as much as we remain a brave, covenant keeping people. A people who believe that kindness, understanding and empathy must rule the day.

  We are facing a crisis in our Nation. This crisis is not directly linked to guns or fighting in the streets or news media sites or the economy. This crisis is linked directly to a mind-set, a mind-set that anything we hear is true, anything the government does is right..or wrong depending on your political leaning. We live in a world where we don't teach our children to think for themselves. Gone are the days of sitting around the table and discussing how the world works and how we can influence the world. I've enjoyed watching the show "Blue Bloods" with my family as each episode shows a family dinner with discussions of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and rights accorded to each person in the legal, justice system. The nephews in the show, boys as young as eight are learning about rights, justice and how the world isn't always fair, but we can be fair. If we are to survive this crisis we must start asking the hard questions, having the discussions and learning how we can be fair.

   Right now we face fighting in the streets, the Ferguson case has torn communities apart. I read the words of an 83 yr old black man who thinks that those rioting in the streets can do better.  I think his message applies to all of us, are we lying to ourselves to get gain or do we see the world as it really is. I apologize for his language, but I feel his message is quite powerful.

  "You blame white people for your ignorance, criminal acts, unemployed laziness, etc.
-You blame white people for 89% of the prisons in America being full of blacks. They did nothing wrong, the racists white cops framed them all, right? No chance at school, no chance for college, military, employment?
 More n*****s kill n*****s, than n*****s killing whites, whites killing n*****s, and whites killing whites….COMBINED. I find this astounding.
-It's not white peoples' faults, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by a white man years ago. You can go to school, get a job, buy a house, and vote, JUST LIKE WHITE FOLKS!!!! You are not a slave, you are not discriminated against! Slavery is abolished, and nobody alive today, was alive when it was popular. Get over it! You are discriminated against because you are a criminal, sorry-assed n*****. Otherwise, black Americans are treated like everyone else.
-If you choose to create "baby daddy and baby mama", and fake disabilities as an excuse for laziness to draw social security disability…… instead of husband, wife, family, job, mortgage, it's YOUR FAULT, not white folks. And there are a lot of proud black Americans that will tell you the same, as I AM ONE OF THEM!!!
-Remember, the way you act on the camera, is remembered by everyone who sees it. They will never forget it. It shows them how you, as the black race, respond to situations that don’t particularly go the way you think they should. It will become a reference standard, something they expect from you when the next media report doesn’t go your way. Stop being stupid n*****s, and be a proud black American. My parents raised me well, but they were wrong about one thing, I am not a n*****.
  After I die, I have asked my children to publish my writings, and include my name. Although I am not expecting any miracles, I can only hope that Americans will stop blaming color, start blaming criminals, and see people for what they really are. We have too many countries that want us dead. We should not be fighting each other."
"William G. Lillas"

We can't blame others for the choices we make. Too many in the world today are quick to point fingers at everyone else instead of taking responsibility for their own actions. At some point we have to stand up and say no!

We have people protesting all across the nation. I support protesting, I support the rights accorded by the First Amendment to everyone. I simply want to ask one little thing? Do you know what those rights really are? Do you know those rights guarantee you the right to freedom of speech, but it doesn't eradicate the consequences.

  We live in a world that is trying to eradicate consequences. The media, the government and popular culture has gotten together and tells us anything goes. We can allow marijuana, we can allow gay marriage, we can do whatever we want to do, don't pay your bills, the government will take care of it. Don't worry about health care the government will pay for it. Don't care about my opinion because it is unfair to the minority. I am not calling for persecution or prosecution for those who think differently than myself, but I am asking that others respect my ideas and my beliefs.

    Dear peers and those of generations in the world today. We face a battle, not of guns or bombs, but of standing firm. The world has crossed so many lines, yet many stand aside and think it won't get worse. I promise you it will. One day we will pay the price for this "anything goes" mentality.

   I've spoken many things, but the one thing I want anyone who reads this blog to think about is...we all have choices and there are consequences to those choices. Please oh please when you hear something on the radio or on the news don't reach for your hot button reaction, think about how different acts that are passed will affect us years and decades down the rode. Change is coming, our actions today determine whether we will have a world for our children to live in.