Words from Fulton J. Sheen


“The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.” - Venerable Fulton J. Sheen.

I came across this quote recently on Instagram and was really fascinated. I mentally divided it into two halves. The first part was talking about taking sides and I think it addresses the current landscape of our conversations in the 21st century. I definitely do agree that not having an opinion on serious issues that affect the way we are able to live together as a society is a decision in and of itself. But at the same time, I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves these days to have an opinion on everything and in our quest to have opinions on everything and fit in with our friends, we jump into positions and opinions that we do not fully understand. So while I do think that it is important to be globally aware and compassionate regarding what people face and what is going on in the world, I think we need to start putting more effort into understanding what our opinions and stances really mean and what they are saying to the world.

The second part of the quote was a bit more interesting. I know it’s the first day of the year and I generally like to be as open as I can be so that people feel free to share their opinions with me. But to fully understand what this quote is trying to say, we have to acknowledge the fact that there are lies that we believe and actively champion, unintentionally and intentionally. Sheen says that those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction and those that believe in honesty lack the fire and conviction to share that truth, which is probably why the rest of the world continue to live in lies. It reminds me of a time in my life when I was so scared to voice my opinions because they seemed so drastically different to those of the people around me. And while I’m not necessarily saying that I was the one believer in honesty in the midst of people who believe in dishonesty, I do think that by keeping quiet, I allowed a singular narrative to be passed across as the truth which probably prevented who shared my opinions from speaking up.

All this blubbering from me is to say that I want to be more honest this year. I want to be confident enough to say what I believe while continuing to respect the beliefs of others. I want to be able to contribute to conversations about important things, but more importantly I want to actually understand those conversations.

Happy New Year!!!!

God bless.

Dera

Comments

  1. Neto KaluJanuary 1, 2022 at 10:20 AM

    Great read Chi!!

    Absolutely agree that not having an opinion says a lot about you and people need to be more confident to speak the truth and their minds, even if they are in the minority. Happy New Year :)

    ReplyDelete

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