Why Do We Sit Idly By?

The horrors and the injustices of the world are not occurring in an isolated vacuum. They are happening out in the open, and are even being telecast. Meanwhile, most of us sit by idly, oblivious to our own power. We impotently disregard the necessity of our own positive action.

After recently reporting (on this blog) on an incident in which a veteran police officer paired with a prostitute to purchase and pimp a young runaway, it struck me how uninvolved many members of society have become to ensuring the well being of those who are most in need. In the aforementioned case, the two adults who were complicit of such egregious abuse of a minor were only sentenced to three and a half years in jail. That type of punitive judgment for such a heinous crime is beyond shocking to me.

There are many good people with good intentions who despise injustice. However, they don’t seem to find some of our current horrendous societal conditions despicable enough to be motivated to spring into action. Others are just plain scared, and are allowing their fears to render them mute. When they finally decide to speak up, it may be too little to late. Our silence makes us accomplices to these unspeakable crimes. The great Martin Luther King Jr. said: “Our lives begin to end, the day we become silent about the things that matter.”

It’s time for us to wake up and recognize the power that we have. We have to educate ourselves on what we can do to prevent injustices from perpetuating themselves. As Miriam Wright Edelman said, "A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back- but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you."

Everyday, I contribute what I can to do my part. I hope that you do the same. One of the bright sides of having such a big mess to clean up is that no matter where we start, we can’t go wrong. Any contribution to improvement will have a huge ripple effect.

Please do something every day to help improve the world. Commit to a daily discipline of committing at least one good deed every 24 hours. Please don’t contribute any more negativity and destruction to society.

Also, please stay in contact with your elected officials. Demand that they do the jobs that they are elected, and paid, to do.

With Lots Of Love,
Elsie Law aka Starface