Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. (Proverbs 31:8)Why is it so easy to stand by and do nothing? Is it apathy? Cowardice? Assuming someone else will step up? The ultimate example of this is Kitty Genovese, the 28-year old New York City woman who was stabbed to death right outside her apartment building in 1964. Her extended attack lasted over 30 minutes, but neighbors (by popular report up to 38 of them knew something bad was going on) huddled indoors and did nothing. Ten years later, a woman was beaten to death in an adjacent building while again neighbors heard screams, but did nothing to help. [1]
Those are extreme cases, and it's easy to read about them and assure ourselves we would behave differently. Yet Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan informs us that this is not just a 20th/21st century phenomenon. It's part of who we are as human beings. In every city, there are those who have no voice and need someone to speak in their defense.
Who will speak up for the poor? Who will speak up for the victim of crime? Who will speak up for the abused? Who will speak up for the indebted? Who will speak up for the hungry? Who will speak up for the addicted? Who will speak up for the enslaved?
The only thing needed for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke.
For whom should you be speaking up?
[1] Rorschach of Watchmen (both a 1985 graphic novel and a 2009 film), is a regular guy, motivated to don a costume and fight crime by Ms. Genovese's murder.
NOTE: Does anyone besides me wonder when comic books became graphic novels?
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