To Take a Stand

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter”

I have a real problem, I am insecure. That’s right, very insecure. This is a problem I think that most normal people have, in fact if you don’t have at least some insecurities I would argue there is something wrong with you. But mine is insecure to the extreme. I worry so much what other people think that I don’t ever stand up for what’s right, I never take a stand, I never do much at all except go along with it. And that’s bad.

I do this because I don’t want enemies, I want everyone to like me, but what ends up happening is that no one likes you anyway. Alexander Hamilton once said, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything”. And that’s what happened to me. I let people walk over me, I let them say things, I let things happen that I never should, but I do because I’m insecure. Insecure that if I stand up to them, then they’ll stop liking me. I’m scared that if I stand for something bigger than myself then bad things will happen. I don’t have the courage to take a stand.

The quote I quoted above is from Martin Luther King Jr. He stood for something. A very great thing, equality for all mankind. Yeah, people hated him for that, people hated him so much that they murdered him. But that is what made him great, he stood for something unpopular, he made his voice heard, he didn’t care what others thought of him. He knew what was right and went for it. I only wish I could be like this.

There are hundreds of people throughout history who have stood for something that would make them quite unpopular, and many paid the price of doing so, but at the same time they knew what they were doing was right and went for it. They didn’t look back.

Take William Wilberforce. He fought against slavery in the late 1700s, introducing bill after bill to Parliament that kept getting shot down. He earned himself many enemies, but he didn’t give up. William said this: "So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the [slave] trade's wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for abolition. Let the consequences be what they would: I from this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition." I want this kind of drive.

I want to be someone who when people look at me they know who I am and what I stand for. They know that I’m not someone who backs down, is afraid, or gives up. I want to be someone who when people look at me they know that I’m someone who is passionate about what I stand for. And yeah, it might make me lose friends, or make enemies, but if I’m to take a stand for something, I need to be ok with that.

I want to stand against injustice, against prejudice, against hate towards fellow man, I want to stand for God, for freedom, for love, for helping others. I want my heart to break for issues like project AK47: An organization that frees child soldiers in places in like Asia and Africa, or International Justice Missions that frees sex slaves around the world. I want my heart to break for the things that breaks God’s heart. I don’t want to focus on myself anymore, I want an outward focus, a focus on others. I believe if I can achieve that, my insecurities will be gone, and I’ll finally take a stand for something.

I leave you with some quotes to ponder on:

“You have enemies? Good, that means you stood for something, sometime in your life.”
W. Churchill

“When you have decided what you believe, what you feel must be done, have the courage to stand alone, and be counted.” E. Roosevelt

What I Crave

Maybe this is just boredom speaking, or maybe I'm just going through some "mid-college" crisis, but lately I have been thinking more and more about my intense want, and need, to be apart of something grander and bigger than myself. I've talked with a lot of people my age recently who are actually doing things like this; Going on mission trips, going to Turkey, or Africa, and other amazing things. These people are taking a stand, my generation is finally getting up and saying no more to injustice, and doing things to help out others and further God's kingdom.
I watch movies and TV shows and see people taking a stand, people who aren't living the comfortable life, who are out there getting messy and making a difference. And all I can think is, "Why can't I do that?"
Yet, despite my intense desire to change the world and be apart of something grand, I still find myself sitting around twiddling my thumbs, being bored, and wondering what to do. Monotonous day after day goes by yet I still do nothing about it. I want a life that isn't comfortable anymore, I want to be dead tired at the end of the day, yet knowing I did a job well done. I want things to go bad, so that I can learn to lean more on God, and learn from my mistakes. Most of all I want at the end of my life to skid into the grave bruised and broken, but knowing, that was quite a ride.