Moment With Betty

 To stand up for what is right, takes a lot of courage. Standing up for what is right is usually described as the willingness to stand up for the right or truth as the case may be and confront fear and adversity. Some school of thought describe it as the ability to face danger, pain or uncertainty without giving in to fear. It is also described as the ability to risks and stand up for one’s beliefs, values, principles and not minding the opposition or difficulty. “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better’’ (www.yourtango.com)

The truth is that you need to stand up for what is right notwithstanding the situation but often times, the problem is that when you do that, people will always misunderstand or attack you. However, to be a Christian is to stand up for the truth not matter the situation and this is when we are on the side of justice and fairness. This is what made Jesus Christ different from the religious leaders of His time. He stood up on the side of the poor, the marginalized and the suffering. Jesus did not paint evil or tried to sugar coat it. He simple spoke up when the need arose not minding whose personality was offended. Unlike the Pharisees and lawyers who presented false images of themselves to the people.

Believe me, one of the reasons why evil is being perpetuated is because many who are supposed to speak out and stand up for what is right or the truth or even use their position to help the poor and the persecuted, are keeping quiet.  When they are eventually accosted, they would say, ’I don’t want trouble, l am minding my business’’. Nevertheless, as a child of God, we should not allow evil to thrive wherever we are. Our responsibility is to stand up against evil and stand up for what is right and more importantly, stand up for others who are weak in our community or society.

The Gospel tells us how Jesus stood up all the time for the poor and for what is right. We also learned how Jesus confronted the Pharisees and lawyers for placing burdens on the people and never offered them a helping hand. He told them that they will be held accountable for the blood of the innocent men of God killed because of their service to God. Examples are Abel in (Genesis 4:8) and Zechariah in (2 Chronicles,24:20-21). We can liken what is happening in our country today to what Jesus complained about against during His time. A situation where we find those who are responsible of taking care of the poor, under privileged and the hungry, turn their eyes away and keep mute and allow injustice, hunger and death to thrive without saying or doing anything because they have been compromised or because of their hypocrisy. Let us not forget that Jesus stood up against this life of hypocrisy. They keep mute because they don’t want to offend anyone or they want to look good before the public so they do things for the public honour and not truly for love of their country or God. Thereby, evil continue to rear its ugly head everywhere.  Our families, are not any different. The same thing happens in some families., many would not want to speak the truth or speak against injustice meted against the underprivileged members of their families or even the young children of a diseased member of their family. because they feel unconcerned or because of their wickedness. They should however, remember that there will be a day of reckoning.

Today, many who occupy political positions keep quiet even when they know for certain that what is happening is wrong and unjust in the society. They see that evil is enveloping the country and the state yet what do they do, they keep mute because they are either not perturbed or they are gaining from the situation on ground. A few others, keep quiet out of fear. Even, some parents close their eyes and watch their children and wards do unspeakable things before them but they keep their mouth shut because of the fear of losing their children’s love, the presents they shower them with or because their children have suddenly become so rich and are the ones calling the shorts. Nonetheless, no matter the situation we find ourselves, let us stand up for what it is good, right, just and loving because, last, last, the truth they say will always prevail.  May God help us and give us the grace to always stand up for what is right. Amen.