Sitting There Doing a Whole Lot of Nothing

If you watch the news at all, or like me hear people talk about what is happening in the world, you cannot avoid knowing about the war in the Ukraine. I was struck by these words from FDR, spoken in the 1930s about World War II. More than eighty years later we have not made peace our work, and not only peace but the kind of peace that ends the beginnings of ALL wars. We have failed to learn the lessons from history and so we are doomed to repeat them, over and over again. And this time it is in the Ukraine.

Power and control can be such a tantalizing and seductive lure. Having these two things has made the human race do some pretty vulgar and destructive things. Bad decisions that impact lives beyond our own borders, and these same bad decisions happen in our own lives, our work world, and even in our own communities. Someone wants power over someone or something else and will do anything to make it happen. That is when the chaos, pain and vulgarity begin. What I wonder is about the people in the room while these things are being plotted; in our homes, our board rooms, our community halls and even corporate conference rooms, what are those people thinking? How is someone not talking about how BAD the idea is for the bigger picture? And what is preventing them from standing up and shouting “NO”?

Group think, fear, intimidation and an inability to speak truth prevents the most noble of men and women from doing the right thing. Like a cancer these things infect our souls and hinder our ability to say and do what needs to be said and done. When the leader has a blind spot or will do anything to remain in power and control, people leave in silence knowing that dastardly deeds are about to occur. It is a cycle we seem to repeat over and over and over again, not learning how to make it stop. It reminds me of another quote – The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. It seems like there has been a whole lot of nothing going on for many decades.

So we sit and hear, read, or view the updates on what is happening in the Ukraine, knowing that bad decisions and dastardly deeds are afoot. The best way we can vote is with our wallets and our feet. Stop supporting those who perpetrated these injustices otherwise we are just sitting there doing a whole lot of nothin.