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What Are You Willing to Stand For?
It is not often that we have the joy of feeling proud of a current or former President of the USA. And yet, I had such a moment when watching a news video of Jimmy Carter confronting a Sudanese soldier in Darfur. Carter was trying to enter a town that had been said to have been terribly pummeled by the militias. He made it into a school, where he did talk to a few people, and some slipped his group notes that told how their girls were still being raped and people were being killed on a daily basis.
Then, he wanted to go further into the town that was occupied by the militias. The security guard told him he could not advance further, and Jimmy Carter thundered back at the man: “You do not have the power to stop me!” In actuality, the man did stop Carter. But Carter had already gotten farther than he should have gotten and had, in fact, gathered some inside information. Carter was there visiting with a group called “The Elders,” members of which include Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela’s wife. Their primary goal was to try to ensure that elections would be held there in 2009, as well as to see how they might help the ongoing killing to stop.
For there to be world peace, many of us are going to need to be very brave and strong in the face of those who are brutalizing, torturing, and killing others. We will need to care more about others’ welfare than our own. We will need to rise above our small, self-centered interests and be willing to give a lot for the well-being of all. What are you willing to stand for? How much are you willing to give up, so that others might have life and freedom? These are good questions to ponder. If your answer to those questions was that you are too afraid to stand for much of anything, I suggest you begin to change that about yourself.
You can start confronting your fears in small ways, being determined that you will not let them to continue to run your life. You can then gradually work up to larger things and more powerful people whom you are willing to confront when something is not right. Courage is not gained overnight. It must be practiced and learned. If you will keep working at it and growing your courage, God-willing, if the day ever comes when people are called upon to stand up for what is right, in spite of potential danger to themselves, you will then be ready to stand up and be counted. What a great victory that will be!
We can all be preparing ourselves, not for war . . . but for peace. Not for revenge, but for forgiveness. If each of us do this, and others follow our example, we will grow a large force for peace and justice, one which will be ready to move forward, when and if the time comes. We will never harm others. But we will be willing to risk being harmed. We will be strong, while being gentle; active, while having inner peace; and determined to stand up for what is right and just. Join us! Become strong, so that you may be counted and may make a difference!
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