Why we must never be a bystander

Dear friend,

Those of us who are Americans
have been celebrating our Independence.

But even as we celebrate
we know
our country is in Crisis.

Many of us are wondering
if we will still have our freedom
next July 4.

Many of us are wondering
if we have it now.

How our freedom is lost

We tend to think our freedom is lost
by injustice and tyranny
inflicted on us by destructive people.

We think sadistic bullies
are the cause of our loss of freedom.

I am sorry to tell you
this is not so.

The bullies are bad news
but they are not the biggest danger to our freedom.

The biggest danger is our passive surrender.

The bully can succeed in destroying our freedom
only if the people around him are bystanders.

A bystander is a passive observer.

A bystander is a person
who sees acts of cruelty and injustice…

who hears and reads the plans of cruelty and injustice
that the bully has drawn up and has READY TO GO…

…but does nothing.

By being passive
the bystander enables the bully to continue

and encourages him to escalate.

Our gut knows

Our intuition is exceedingly accurate.

We all know when a situation is brewing.
when we are going to have to do something.

A time when we will need to speak up and take action
to defeat a dangerous bully.

We can feel it coming.
We get this sinking feeling in our gut.

UGH.

“We have to deal with this,”
says our healthy inner voice.

“We have to put a stop to this
before it’s too late.”

We don’t like hearing
our own inner ultimatum.

We don’t want to have to take action
but we must.

Standing up

Yes, there are many times in life
when we must stand up—

for ourselves
for our fellow citizens
for our children and grandchildren.

We Americans are in such a time now.

It is never easy.
It has never been easy
at any time in our history.

But the preservation of our freedom depends on it.

As Dylan wrote in Blowing In The Wind:

“Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn’t see?”

Are you and I willing
to stop pretending
that we don’t see?

Are we willing to stand up and intervene
when we see people being badly treated?

When we hear people being verbally abused and lied to?

Are we willing to stand up and speak up
for our democracy
when we hear someone making plans to destroy it?

Are we willing to speak, write and vote
as if our freedom depends on it?

It does, my friend. It does.

Each one of us
right now
is called to BE the citizen
we all hope will uphold our freedom.

Each one of us
right now
is called to BE the person
who will never accept a dictator of America.

Each one of us
right now
is called to BE the person
who is incapable of silence
in the face of tyranny.

Each one of us
right now
is called to never be a bystander.

Blessings,

Dr. Hall

A request:

I ask each of my American readers to give me your commitment

that you will:

a) research Project 2025 (here is the Wiki summary, for starters)

b) ask yourself if this is the America you want

c) vote in November

Thank you!

Now let’s all have a listen to Dylan’s whole song:

Bob Dylan- Blowin’ in the Wind