WHAT COUNTS IN STORMY TIMES

"Cowardice asks the question - is it safe? Expediency asks the question - is it politic? Vanity asks the question - is it popular? But conscience asks the question - is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular. But one must take it because it is right." Martin Luther King

IF MARTIN LUTHER KING ASKED YOU, "WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR?" WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?

Is it what our Parents or School taught us? The latest celebrity advice based on their life's trajectory from poverty to billionaire status? Friends and Family? Neighbors? OR, you and I responding in our most sincere and authentic way, however awkwardly or hesitantly at first, but with encouragement, more certain and confident. How powerful would it be to hear more about our STANDS than awards and honors won, privileged positions gained, money and new business acquired, and other such material things won and lost with the ebb and flow of time and popularity.

Is it a safe bet that we may not have a ready answer to this question - WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR?

I know I didn't have a quick response when asked, over 30 years ago, in a self-empowerment retreat to state the answer publicly to an audience of 200 people, "Who are you and what do you stand for?" Now, in today's world we are asked, "What are your goals and what do you want to do, as in... your next job, start-up and other such activities." I cannot remember anyone asking me in the near or distant past, "What are your stands?"

After a 2020 new year's resolution to review my past writings and journal entries, I have well-documented proof that I have been struggling with this question for a very long time. I knew when I was a youngster in grade school what I stood for - obedience to my parents, good hygiene, not telling lies, keeping my promises and saying my prayers - but by high school and the transition out of puberty I somehow had lost touch with that essential simple answer to the query - what is most important? What makes everything Right in my world? Is it having enough money? Social, economic, financial prestige? Early on I didn't think about grades, prizes, scholarships, jobs, careers or relationships. Just, in that moment, what was important and near and dear to my heart and living life to the fullest.

If Martin Luther King were here today what would he advise us with regard to articulating in a clear and intelligible way - what my "right is" and what I come to interpret as...

...what I stand for, what my life is about and what it contributes toward in the bigger scheme of things.

Perhaps another's interpretation is different. After all, we are a highly opinionated world full of our own thoughts and ideas.

I respect your opinions and what I am feeling in this moment is that each of us has the choice to be about or "up to" something we hold as right and true at the core of our being regardless of it's popularity among our community, network, sphere of influence, family and friends. My stand is that beyond conditioned and societally sanctioned responses to life's conditions and circumstances, my life can be a way of being, seeing and listening from a place of core values that I set, that withstands the tests of time, conditions and the pressures of my culture and society.

Tall order, this, in a world of pouring one's heart out in a public way and in a public conversation. But isn't that, after all what the "greats" of the past did? Martin Luther King and others made their Stands known without thought of retribution, lack of popularity or acknowledgement and many of them paid prices for those values.

What are you and I willing to die for? What are our stands?

What I am seeking to do now:

• Take risks when it feels unsafe to ask certain questions or pose diverse opinions
• Learn new skills in communicating ideas in thoughtful and creative ways thereby sparking new thoughts or sharing meaningful experiences
• Channel negative thinking into positive intention
• Sharing more, being vulnerable to and accepting of criticism and feedback I may not like or believe initially adds value
• Making my Stands known more directly and clearly in spite of my fears or needs to be right, look good and be in control

I can't promise it will feel good at first but perhaps little by little, more of us will venture out into the world of wider social exposure of thoughts, feelings, opinions and ideas that make our Stands known and through this sharing, encourage others to bring themselves and what they Stand for into the light of day.

There are many individuals who we need to hear from and who are right now silent, hesitant or feeling unwitnessed in their lives. Taking first steps and venturing out into the vast wilderness we have created in our virtual worlds may be a good thing.

Who knows...