“God places the heaviest burden on those who can carry its weight.”
– Legendary Green Bay Packer (and Philadelphia Eagle) Reggie White (1961-2004)
“Better to fight for something than live for nothing.”
– General George S. Patton, Jr. (1885-1945)
“You’ve got to stand for something, or you’ll fall for anything…”
– Lyric from Aaron Tippin’s song of the same title
And sometimes, the fight is a real bitch. Seriously, in a career, heck in a lifetime, we might be called to stand on principle a handful of times — tops.
The effort around it — the fight — can be brutal, physically and emotionally.
But the simple fact of the matter is that the only way to avoid the fight is to stand for nothing. If we never draw lines, we never have to worry about crossing them, or having them crossed. If we stand for nothing, we are empty vessels.
I admire the people who set out to protest peacefully based on their frustrations in Ferguson, MO, in LA and in New York. I appreciate and empathize with them, because they stand for something, be it justice, equality, their own sense of right and wrong — whatever it is, those who take a stand — appropriately, firmly and, yes, even defiantly, well, they are difference makers. They stand and fight — for “something.”
At the same time, I abhor the lack of ideals that permit people to use the occasion to burn cars, break windows and loot cell phone stores. They stand for nothing.
If our own trial or burden — our “something” — runs its course outside the camera range of CNN or FoxNews, it can still feel like we’re the ones on trial.
We’re not. Our ideals are not. They’re ours, and they’re the foundations that our difference making is built upon.
They’re worth fighting for, or finding a place where the ideals are shared and the fight unnecessary.
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