Sic Semper Tyrannis
How red flags only seems to matter in gen z vernacular and popular reality TV
As I think about where we are and how the world got the way it is, I often get overwhelmed with the fact that none of this is new, its like a cycle, the matrix that just resets when the program has completed and all memories of previous experiences have been wiped. What is happening in Ukraine, Sudan, Congo, Gaza, the US and many other places in the world is heartbreaking. We are all witnessing a world burning, Forestation, mud slides, droughts, wild fires, famine all of it right before our eyes and it feels like we are in a dream where everything is happening in slow motion and we can’t do anything about it. The things that happen naturally there isn’t a lot we can do about but the problems we create we can adjust to minimize the negative impact it might have on our society.
My faith tells me that God had a plan, my eyes betray that believe so there is this tug of war for my sanity and there shouldn’t be. People tell me to tune it out, that they don’t get into politics, but the bare truth is that everything is politics and we cannot afford to continue to pretend that its going to be ok when there is nothing even close to proving that to be the case. Moments in time where we find ourselves we have to take a real hard look at our own hearts and be honest about who we are as human beings and what we will and won’t accept.
I named this essay Sic Semper Tyrannis because I have the feeling that we are under attack by the enemy, but the enemy isn’t some person who has invaded our environment from some far away land, the enemy is us. Looking at the last five to seven years, we have seen so many changes. The attack on women reproductive rights, affirmative action being rolled back, DEI initiatives villainized, LGBTQIA community attacked, books banned, journalist jailed, first amendment threatened, higher education institutions attacked, migrant persecution, an resources cut from our most vulnerable in our society.
In the US there are people who believe, to take our society back socially, economically/financially to a time where many people in our country were oppressed would some how make it great again, fail to realize it wasn’t all that great for the people who were mistreated, abused and attacked or silenced. The movement is selfish and it seems not to care about the evolution of the human condition , dignity and environment. Things change and you can’t create policy, or bully or alienate people to make yourself feel more important than you are. The face of the nation has changed, the culture has change, the economics have changed. By no means am I personally a cultural relativist, but what I will say is that you shouldn’t create policy that attacks someone’s autonomy because it challenges your supposed sense of morality.
People are starving to death , being ripped from their families, beaten in the streets because they want freedom, history being erased on purpose so that the oppressor doesn’t have to feel bad for what he has done/continues to do. In so many ways we are unlike our ancestors but unfortunately in very dangerous ways we are. And for what? to retain the little power they perceive themselves to have; the edge or leg up they have on their neighbor. The past is the past for a reason and the most valuable thing that we can take from our collective past is that we have the benefit of hindsight. We know what not to do, the pitfalls the shortcomings the lessons learned. We become accountable and responsible with what we do with that knowledge and if we have a desire to be better, to do better, we have to keep those things in mind when forging the future we want to have.
No one at this point has the benefit to be on the sideline, what is happening is affecting everyone, if not today then tomorrow, if not tomorrow then next week or month or year . The bill in the house will be something our children will have to pay and even their children. Our stance on geopolitics is something we will suffer the consequences for generations to come. What side of history will you be on?! I have a small son in this world and I want for him and all of my nieces and nephews and cousins to be left a world where they are thriving not just overcoming the next tragedy, environmental catastrophe, economic free fall or world war. I don’t just want that for the people I love, I want it for your kids too, and your cousins ,nieces and nephews. I don’t want your mother/father/grandmother/grandfather, to die in a nursing home because you didn’t have the resources to take care of them and there is no federal funding to help. I don’t want your hospitals in rural America to close, or women to bleed to death because they can’t get medical attention for fear of the state bringing charges or revoking someone’s medical license. I don’t want you child shot down in the streets or in their home because they caught law enforcement on a bad day. I don’t know your loved one harassed because they have a rainbow sticker on their shirt or their car, or are holding hands with someone others don’t think they should be holding on to. What I am saying is not conjecture it’s verifiable and if we are going to have a chance at all we have to get off the sidelines.
I want to end this essay with a biblical scripture that encompasses all that I am at this point in my life and spiritual journey
Matthew 25: 35-46
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
What I believe is so beautiful about this country is that we all have the right (For now) to pursue the beliefs that we want, and live relatively the way that we want, but there comes a time where you have to take ownership and responsibility for the kind of world you want to live in. God made us all human, beyond that he gave us the will to choose our own actions. Kindness, altruism, love, charity, those are all a choice within the capacity of every human being on earth so is wickedness, anger, selfishness, fear, and discrimination.
Which wolf wins? The one you feed.