Timid
"The true source of our suffering has been our timidity.
We have been afraid to think…
Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write." – John Adams
Why do we fear being wrong?
Why would a person, a community, or a political party support apparent corruption and crimes conducted by its representatives and not investigate and prosecute the guilty?
What allows apparently good people to turn their backs in outrage and huddle against the bright light of truth?
Prejudice.
Prejudice is a kind of temerity of the timid.
Lazy minds.
Prejudice is making judgments without truth or factual evidence.
Do you see the link I'm talking about?
The timid are afraid to talk to that black man taking a knee.
The timid don't want to hear the reason for the immigrant fleeing murder.
The timid prefer to hide behind the excuse that nothing matters, that everything is corrupt.
Each of these examples represents a form of prejudice that prevents society from learning the truth.
Even if that truth reveals the corruption behind what we personally believe to be true.
John Adams, our second President, admonishes, asks, and reflects that what has kept this nation and the world from becoming a better place is our collective fear of confronting the truth.
I would add that it's part of the human condition, characterized by a general laziness of mind and body.
You know you should do the laundry; there is a huge pile, and you have no clean underwear.
You don't want to look at the pile.
You know you have to go buy soap.
You would rather tolerate the stink of your clothes than do the work.
It takes effort to gather your resources and apply the energy.
You just tell yourself everyone else is walking around in stinky clothes, too.
Your prejudice and your timid psychology allowed you to make up an excuse for not doing the right thing.
A collective timid psychology, a prejudice against doing right, has taken hold of the Republican Party and its supporters.
What I am calling a political-economic-social-nihilism.
PESN
PESN, in short, means that these people believe a myth that everything is corrupt.
If everything is corrupt, then my personal corruption, my prejudice, and my timid response will not be noticed.
If everything stinks, my stink won't be noticed.
My failure to take responsibility for doing right doesn't matter in the broader context of right versus wrong because everyone is ultimately out for themselves.
Welcome to the Jungle, baby!
This is a myth created by timid minds cobbled together on bar stools.
A world full of prejudice where corruption is the norm, and do-gooders are losers.
A discourse...
Boy Scouts.
The Deep State.
Never Trumpers.
Adams is right.
This timid myth of the world has held back the Great Society.
It destroyed Reconstruction.
It denied the Equal Rights Amendment.
It shut the door on Gay rights.
It has allowed racism to flourish.
It has grown white nationalism.
It has promoted economic disparity between the rich and poor.
It has strengthened a dark discourse of social dystopia and fascism in social media, networks, and print.
It has allowed the monsters who feed off the fear of the timid to take control of half of our Republic.
Is it too late to do anything about it?
Let us dare to read.
Read everything, especially those writings that challenge us to do more.
Think long, hard, and deep, ask the questions, and get to the answer at the bottom of the well of deceit and corruption.
Speak truth to power, demand freedom from the tyrant of the mind that says your freedom, your happiness, your equality, your hope, is not essential.
And write…
Write to that person who stands in the doorway, stopping the freedom march.
Write to that friend who has lost their hope.
Write and be that hope.
Most of all, do not be afraid of the night as you travel on your course.
You are a star in a gathering host.
Together, bravely, with courage and great spirit, we will do right.
It's always the right time to do right.
Peace
Daniel J Frey aka Toby