Lesson Twenty: Be as Courageous as You Can

There are a lot of people with a lot more power and influence than us that I wish showed more courage. If they did, we wouldn’t be here, but here we are and so the need for courage falls to us.

 What does courage look like to you? I think it begins with having honest conversations about where we are.

 We have an extraordinarily corrupt administration; extortion and bribery are open and commonplace.

 We have a paramilitary force that’s been given tens of millions of dollars to build camps to detain people, and they have a record of doing so without due process.

 There are the extrajudicial killings of “drug runners.”

 There is the openly white supremacist language and propaganda. 

 There is the “might is right” approach to foreign policy and our betrayal of our allies.

 There are the Epstein files. There is this knowledge that there really was a cabal of the rich and powerful who exploited and trafficked girls and that this administration has no intention of ever prosecuting anyone.

 There are the propaganda “news” networks and threats to any media that do not pay homage to the President.

 We’re pulling food and medical aid from “shithole” countries and condemning hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of human beings to death.

 Election integrity is being undermined.

 We have a Congress that has largely abdicated its constitutional authority. 

 And we all have friends and family who either don’t believe this stuff is happening or they embrace it (and we aren’t always sure which). 

 Maybe they think this will just pass, once things are put back together (and the harm done was just collateral damage).

 Maybe they have accepted the narrative that some people are less than, that all [people] aren't created equal; that not everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

 It’s easy to get discouraged and fall into despair, but this is not how we want the world to be, and so we must not give in. 

 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

 I wonder if we’ve misunderstood what the Bible is about. Maybe it’s more about salvation from tyranny then we were taught. Maybe sin is our participation with and contribution to “spiritual wickedness.”

 When we choose to love our neighbors, we break from the dark powers of this world and join with the power of God to bring justice down like waters.

 I am intrigued by this idea, it scares me a little, but I plan to explore it further in my next book, which I will be getting back to work on now that this series is complete.

 Love your neighbor. That’s what they did in Minneapolis and that’s what we need to do. Some days it takes more courage than other days, but together, we can "resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves” (from the membership vows of the United Methodist Church).

 This is the final essay and part 21 of a series inspired by my reading of On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons Learned From the Twentieth Century, by Timothy Snyder as part of my effort to offer Christian insight to those wondering what to do in this moment.