The Passing of Good People

It always saddens me to learn of the passing of good people. Indeed, how can one not be saddened to learn that the world has become just a little less gentle, a little less merciful. That it has become a harder place than it already is.

Is such a thing really necessary? No. I hardly think anyone would agree that this should be so.

I have heard it said that this woman taught us all how to be better people. It seems such a simple thing. Yet, when you think about it, how would you do it? Like this small woman, would you be willing to risk the indignities, the insults, the humiliations, the threats of death to take a stand for justice? In the simple hope that by doing so others will somehow learn to become better people?

I think there are few who would be willing to act with such quiet courage.

I feel the world becoming harder about me. As though a Golden Age of compassion and mercy has become supplanted by an Iron Age of harsh anxieties. Our leaders bring us no reassurance and comfort. They bring only alarms and an unending litany of fears.

Well. This I know, and I know it quite well. It needn’t be this way. We are better people, and we needn’t surrender our better natures to those dark powers who seek to ensnare us.

We need only speak out. Speak out against hatred, ignorance, and fear. Stand and speak out for justice, compassion, mercy, and knowledge.

I know that this is what I choose to do.