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Saturday, June 4, 2011
For My Rebecca: Day 24
Todays suprise was quite perfect. I thought it was only second to the shirt. I just watched this movie named V for Vendta it's a film about a man who wishes to help Great Britain and change her government through violence. Jesus taught a system of passive resistance, what do you think we should do when passive resistance doesn't work? Is force (not violence) ever a moral alternative? You may ask, "What does this have to do with changing me?" When you face a situation where no isn't enough then what's the next step. I had to face this yesterday and just recognized that today.
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I'm glad you liked it! Yeah the shirt was pretty cool huh :) I was thinking, it woulda been awesome to wear it to the game but actually since it's all washable stuff and it was raining that day...hah....
ReplyDeleteEven after a day of thought I am still unsure about how to answer this. I think it's really dependent on the situation...and no in this case that is not relativism.
Really though, if it gets to the point where passive resistance is not enough, that means that you are met with more that “passive” efforts to try to get you to do something that you don’t want to do.
In that case I think force is absolutely morally permissible. I can recall times when my friends have tried to get me to try things I didn’t want to try and do things I didn’t want to do – I’m sure you can think of what things I’m talking about. Fortunately, most of the time a no was enough – but if it hadn’t been and force had been necessary, I absolutely would have resorted to it.
The next step?
When no proves not enough over and over again, it leads to being torn. When it came to the friends I was speaking of, I ended up having to cut my ties with them, distance myself from them, and even let some of them go entirely because what it came down to was a choice: my values or a constant pressure to undermine them. I think you and I are on the same page when it comes to hanging out with those kind of kids. It’s better just not to have them around.
The only other thing I can think of is that your reputation has to be set in the first place. The reason people have lied to me about things that they do and the reason guys typically don’t ask me for certain things is because my reputation is well enough established for what I will and will not do. If you think of some of the recent circumstances where my friends have been pressured to do things for guys, it’s because they didn’t establish any reputation and because they passively said no with no immediate serious reaction or repercussions for when these guys tried stuff. If people won’t try it then force doesn’t become eventually necessary.
I’m still confused on where to go with this (despite my rambles). All I can say is the best thing to do when No isn’t good enough is to remove yourself from the situation, whatever it is. If someone won’t respect your decisions or ethics, then it’s time to make a decision. Making the choice between maintaining certain relationships with people and the morals and values you work hard to instill and preserve is a tough one, but ultimately one you want to look back on with pride.
And lastly it’s important to pray for the people, government, friends, family members, or whoever it is that possibly calls you to act with force. One lesson that I learned on Kairos is something that Anne Frank always believed: that everyone has good in them. Sometimes it just needs to be brought closer to the surface.
I’m sorry if it sounds like I’m preaching to you. I can think of several situations where all this stuff would apply and I understand that the circumstances are far more complex to deal with.
I’m interested to know what you were faced with yesterday. (Or rather, two days ago).
We really don’t talk anymore, do we.