What is the best way for a person to live and navigate through the waters of injustice?
I don’t know the complete answer. I can only speculate the answer based on the knowledge that I do have.
Lesson 1:
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for civil rights for African Americans and he was assassinated. Would you say that he made the decision that was best for himself? What he did helped to pave the way for justice but it cost him his life. Would you fight to the death for a cause you feel is just or would you just choose to live your life by coping with and/or adapting to the injustice?
Famous Quote: “Give me liberty or give me death” – Patrick Henry
My answer: Brainstorm, determine the risks, make your choice, re-evaluate your choice.
Lesson 2:
Different serial killers have different motives/triggers. If you’re abducted by one, how do you determine whether your behavior will set them off and get you killed or get you set free? If you fight, kick, scream, and disobey your abductor, the situation may end in your death or the killer may set you free. Likewise, if you go along with your abductor’s wishes, the situation may end in your death or the person may set you free. There is really no cookie cutter response that is the right response.
There is definitely a time to fight and a time to be silent. A wise person may be able to recognize the time to fight and the time to be silent…but a truly lucky person will make the right choice at the right time.
Lesson 3:
I was in a situation once where I needed to obtain something from someone else. A friend told me, “I know it sucks, but just suck up your pride and do whatever it takes to get whatever you need, then you can move away from this situation and start over somewhere else with something that has made you a little bit better, a little bit more competitive.”
I look back on my life growing up, and no one gave me this lesson. I guess I expected life to be fair, and if it is not fair, then individuals have the right to fight for their rights, then all will be fair. Those were the lessons I was taught as a child. As an adult looking back on my life, I have learned that life is not fair and that sometimes when you choose to fight injustice, you will lose.
Lesson 4:
What I wish I had been taught…
The key to success is often knowing when to fight and when to be silent.
When a person is accused of and arrested for committing a crime, they are read their rights. They are told, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you.”
There are times when people will accuse, judge, and convict you in their minds based on circumstancial evidence or no evidence at all. Though to them, you are GUILTY, bad, or wrong, beyond a reasonable doubt. And one thing you can be sure of is that anything you say, can and will be used against you.
There are safe places to voice hurt and frustrations and there are unsafe places to share yourself. You may want to be careful who you share yourself with, because everyone may not take the information you share and use it for good, they may take your story and try to use it against you.
Lesson 5:
Never let anger control you, motivate you, or be a driving force in your life, yet realize that anger is a natural and appropriate response in certain situations.
Know that some people push your buttons just because they can and they may try to use your anger to control you as if you were a puppet on a string. Horrible things have happened to me as well as you, but I cannot, and I will not, allow my life to be consumed with anger or to let anger dictate my path.
So, I will leave this discussion with a question:
What lessons would you teach about living with injustice?
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