I was a child, hungry and afraid, abused by my parents who supposed to love me, and no one came.
I was homeless, addicted to alcohol and drugs because I was weak, left out in the bitter cold, and no one came.
I was born in Africa, abducted by slave traders, taken to a foreign land, sold into slavery, and no one came.
I was falsely accused of a crime I did not commit, and because I was black, I was given no trial, just hung from a tree by a lynch mob until dead, and no one came.
I was an abused wife, beaten by my husband who supposed to love me, my body bruised and swollen beyond recognition, and no one came.
I was hung from a fence in the middle of nowhere, my body bashed, my bones broken until I bled inside and died all alone, just because I was gay, and no one came.
I was pulled over in my car by a police officer because of the color of my skin, forced down on the street at gunpoint, shot, and killed, even though I was unarmed, and no one came.
I was poor and without a job, I had no food to put on the table for my family, no Christmas presents to put under the tree at Christmas, and no one came.
I stood out in the rain and the cold in the middle of the street, crying for help as strangers passed me by, and no one came.
I was someone’s pet, a dog, a cat, a horse, I was abused, neglected, and not fed, and no one came.
I was the victim of hate, of bigotry, of misdirected anger and ignorance, and no one came.
I was a child who lived in Africa. I did without food for so long that I would have been so happy just to eat the food you threw away. I suffered so long until finally, I died of hunger and disease, and no one came.
I was the voice of dissent, in Iran, in North Korea, in China, in Cuba, and in many places around the globe where oppressive regimes and governments rule. I was abducted in the middle of the night, imprisoned, beaten, and killed, and no one came.
I lived, I loved, I spoke up, I stood up, I cried out, I failed, I suffered, I died, and yet, no one came, to rescue me.
Whom are we, those of us who stands on the sidelines, watching, waiting for someone else to do something? Reach out in compassion, stand up against oppression, speak our mind against tyranny, and against the powerful and the evil forces of extremism, bigotry, and hate.
Do we fear retribution from the same evil ones who would bring such atrocities against the decent, the weak, and the innocent, those who cannot stand up for themselves? Do our hearts not bleed enough? Are we hypocrites of our own sermons, of our own political campaigns? Do we only pay lip service to those who would naively believe in us?
Have courage, be bold, be not silent, stand up for the right at all cost. Be fearless against the fearful, be calm against the storm, and look within yourself and find what it takes. Find a cause, be passionate, care enough, and let no one stand in your way.
Seek for the truth, look up to the right role models, such as Martin Luther King Jr, Mother Teresa, Malala Yousafzai, Jesus Christ, Gandhi, Pope Francis, and so many, many more brave and true voice of the past and the present.
Close your ears to the voices that preach hate, violence, and extremism, and stand against those voices that would divide us all. Be brave for these are surely perilous times, and look past your own selfish needs. Be like a tree, planted by the water that shall not be moved, by the turmoil and troubles of this world. Have faith in yourself, and listen to your heart when confusion would overwhelm you. Nothing is impossible, and love conquers all. The light overcomes the darkness in us, if we will just open up and not close our minds in hubris and false excuses.
We are all in this together, and in the end, the only thing that will matter, and the only things that will stand true are, did we stay faithful and true to ourselves and to those who so much needed us, without delusion, and without fail.
This is a republish from my website: Fidlerten Place