Today's MOZEN: We Are Not Afraid

F LoBuono

There have been quite a few postings on Social Media comparing so-called liberals and progressives to sheep being led to slaughter. It seems that every time there is another horrendous incident of gun violence, people of conscience cry out for reform. And, just as often the so-called neocons and gun enthusiasts respond with insults and invectives.  The implication is obvious: liberals are cowards and will not fight back, even to protect themselves. Conservatives will pick up the fight and save the Nation.

They couldn't be more wrong!

Compassion should never be taken for weakness. Never.

Practicing non-violence in the face of unspeakable horror is the ultimate in courage. The legendary Tank Man Of Tienanmen Square is the immortal symbol of peaceful resistance. A Soviet T-90 battle tank weights approximately 45 tons. The man facing it was about 150 lbs. And, who won that fight? The tank did not pass! That, my friends, is the power of non-violence as expressed in the indomitable human spirit.

There are those who will say that Tank Man man paid the ultimate price. He was arrested, whisked away, and never heard from again. Well, they might be right about the first two, but they're dead wrong about the last. He is very much alive. Every time someone stands up to a bully, alone, he is alive. Every time a group confronts bigotry and injustice, without violence, he is alive. He lives on in every one of us who believes that we can only achieve a lasting peace through non-violent action.

And, we are not afraid.

“Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles;
Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances.
Courage breeds creativity; Cowardice represses fear and is mastered by it.
Cowardice asks the question, is it safe?
Expediency ask the question, is it politic?
Vanity asks the question, is it popular?

But conscience ask the question, is it right? And there comes a time when we must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.”

― Martin Luther King Jr.