Fence Sitting is Harmful

The line between what is right and what is wrong is becoming increasingly blurred in our present society. At what point did we stop standing up for our convictions? And it may be that we never actually perpetrate crime ourselves, but to sit by idly and cover our eyes hoping a situation will just get better might as well be an all-out condoning of the action. 

This principle is at play in every level of world politics from the most intimate personal relationships to the precariously balanced relationship of nations not wishing court the ill-will of perpetrating nations and thus closing their eyes to atrocity daily. At some point we have to stop being so spineless. Atrocity persists because we permit it to persist. By not demanding action we are complicit in the continuation of the situations at hand. 

Take this to a small level. Say that friend A and friend B were walking down the street. Friend A decides to beat up Friend C. In order to preserve relations with both, friend B doesn't say anything and instead holds his hands over his eyes. Friend A is guilty of a assault. Friend B is complicit in the crime. 

Now, let's take this a little larger. Nation A and Nation B are friends. Nation A decides to finance the human rights atrocities committed by Nation C. Because Nation B is almost entirely supported by exports to and imports from Nation A, they decide to casually pretend that nothing is going on. Or at best be very slow to respond. They're also trying to preserve relations with Nation C since alienating them would in turn alienate Nation A. Nation A is guilty. Nation C is guilty. Nation B is complicit. 

The sad state of affairs in our world is that we stand by and allow things to happen to people we care about, we stand by and watch other nations get decimated, and we stand by and watch entire people groups be destroyed because we care more about our own interests and our perceived "peace" then we do about the reality which is that people suffer and die daily without any intervention by anyone who can. 

Its high time we started standing on our convictions instead of allowing them to be pretty rhetoric. Get off the fence and stand for something...or risk falling for anything.