"In the name of the entire German people we demand of Adolf Hitler’s state the return of personal freedom, the most precious treasure of the Germans which he cunningly has cheated us out of.”
~Die Weisse Rose
I admit when I planned this book and these chapters, I didn't elect to see the deterioration of our freedoms in real time. I didn't expect to see American freedom to protest stripped away by armed secret police loading Americans into unmarked vans and forcing them to sign waivers that deny them rights, in order to be "free" again. I didn't expect to hear that an American citizen and lawyer who tried to write a book about Trump would have his freedom of speech curtailed and be imprisoned, while Trump's felon friend roamed free.
I am glad that these things have been exposed, and I am hopeful that in some cases they are being challenged lawfully, but whatever next? SWAT home invasions over a Tweet or Facebook post? Why is there a large wall around the White House? What is going on?
This is the context for my post today: the betrayal of our freedoms by those who are in positions of tremendous power to do good or evil. It seems they have chosen to do more evil than good.
We don't just have government betraying our promised rights, we have "leaders" behaving like spoilt brats. Today we come to find out that many staffers in Washington DC have been pressured to come in to work and not wear a mask. This is during a pandemic that has killed thousands overseas and is killing more and more people every day in America.
I wrote yesterday, suggesting we have choices of how we speak the truth to counteract the lies in our culture, right now. The question is where do we go from here? What will be the results of speaking and living lives of integrity and truth in times where truth and actual human lives don't apparently matter very much, to our own government and its supporters?
What should we expect if we say what is true, in a culture where coded language is preferred to straight talk? What can we expect if we seek to live with integrity and honesty, rather than promote an image of ourselves that is unreal and unattainable anyway? What will be the results of our choice to live free instead of enabling or accepting abuse?
It is clearly my position that we need as citizens to speak up and take appropriate action to walk with wise people. This may mean separating from some people who do us harm. That may mean being accused of participating in cancel culture.
Oh well.
You see, we are not going to heal as a nation by succumbing to fascism or totalitarianism. We have to be prepared to have a strong intolerance of extremist thinking, and we also need to be ready to deal with the full assault of narcissistic abusers and their entourage. We need to stay real, even as we cannot give ground to those who will pick apart our imperfections and failures. We have to be prepared to admit we aren't perfect and also be confident not to let anyone shame us for it. That is the antidote right now, to this narcissistic culture where on any given day you are a target for absurd accusations and abuse.
The problem isn't cancel culture, it's narcissism epidemic. And we feed that narcissism when we react rather than firmly respond and develop our ideas and make clear what we meant by this or that or the other, or firmly state we said that wrong, we had that blind spot, and we are willing to change. Narcissists do not repent, because repentance means admitting something in them is wrong and doing the hard work of change. They are far too lazy and selfish for that, and thus, everyone else is required to adjust to them.
It's very important that we do not adjust to the narcissists even as we grow and change for the better.
The answer to the question of where we go from here, therefore, is we live a life of integrity regardless of the accusations that will fly our way. We accept we will be smeared. That's the nature of the culture right now. We address issues, keep short accounts, and we move forward daily, continuing to influence others for good, through honesty and educating the audience.
The reality of the situation is that we we do not know what the results of our insistence on truth will be. We can hope that truth wins out, or that enough people will live similarly to us rather than accept abuse from our leaders. But we are not guaranteed anything.
We can take inspiration from history, looking at the lives of Corrie Ten Boom, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, William Wilberforce, Hannah More, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, and many, many others, and we can learn lessons from their lives and choices. We are not the only people who have lived in times where freedom was not for everyone, and thus no one was truly free.
One result that Christians claim is the character development that comes with perseverance through difficulty. This result is on a personal level and is a huge benefit to our spiritual and/or emotional growth as people and leaders who can be respected.
Our leaders have failed US, and that goes for our church leaders, our government leaders, and our law enforcement, in many cases today. This is the time to count the cost of being a leader rather than a follower. The cost is this: results may vary. Nelson Mandala got locked up. Ghandi, before Dr. Martin Luther King, was shot dead. President Obama still has accusations of lawlessness flung at him by a sitting president. There's a cost, or at least, there could be.
I can't tell you what the exact results of living free during difficult times may be, but my advice as I close out this book is this:
Don't let this be a time to hunker down like the majority of Germans during the 30s did, pretending all is ok and the oppression is just going to go away. Be the Weisse Rose now, don't wait until it's even more dangerous.
Live free, love others, lead well. Results may vary, but all tyrants eventually will fall.
In a narcissistic, results-focused culture,
dare to create something better, outside their box.
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