(#5873) Choose your battles wisely

      We are in the mix of it now. With the trumps running the show we who are now relegated to spectator status need to consider hard when the right time will be to enter into the fray and stand on the side we know is correct. Most of us are concerned about our financial livelihoods so not creating a financial disaster for ourselves is prudent. Yet a time will come when all other considerations about our current economic status will shrink in the face of a harsh and cruel unwelcome social order. We must have a mindset already in place where we have a plan for sacrificing what could be safe for ourselves momentarily for the unknown that offers us a chance to rebuild our democracy.
     I am talking about risk! When do we risk being a part of the solution when we are still beholden to letting others fight for us? Playing it safe so that neither side in the battle can identify us as their adversary. That tricky balancing act of not of not being identifiable yet also being a part. Listen, I know how that works. In my less admirable past I avoided doing what is correct because I feared any and all reprisals. I would skirt the issues but not entirely so that no matter how the solution came about I was not seen as a bad guy. But in my heart and soul I knew I was. I have lived long enough to have made many mistakes but what I have done in my life is correct them once understood.
     You won't see me shirk or slink around issues that are important. I know that being on the correct side of democracy and honor is worth any price I may pay. No price is too large for me to pay when freedom, liberty of life, and pursuit of happiness is endangered. I have already chosen where I stand with my voice and my deeds. The rest of us must find our way to the same conclusion. The when that happens is all that remains to be accomplished. Silence is a strategy that will only temporarily work when others have sacrificed too much. Getting past silence because of fear of many things in our lives is how we eliminate the threat of those who would silence us forever!