It is your job to speak up when you face evil. When you ignore serious problems, it can, and it will, hurt others after you.
I get to meet people with a wide range of backgrounds every day. No matter who you are, we all come to points that we feel like we have been wronged. When you have been hurt by something or someone, it is your responsibility to warn others around you so they can avoid that same danger.
All too often, I speak with people who feel helpless as life drags them through the wringer. I’ve spoken with victims of heinous crimes and broken systems. My heart is broken every time I hear truly victimized people say the words, “It’s okay,” or “It isn’t a problem,” regarding situations that threaten someone’s safety or livelihood.
I’m not talking about casual disagreements with a roommate, or frustration with the color of a carpet. I’m talking about issues of authority figures abusing their influence over employees or students. I’m talking about intimidation and harassment from social circles to cover up crimes for the sake of a reputation.
“Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented,” said Elie Wiesel as he accepted his Nobel prize in 1986. He was well acquainted with injustice, and he knew the importance of spotlighting it for all to see.
A holocaust survivor, Wiesel spent decades pouring out his experiences on paper. He published work after work detailing the horrors of Nazi Germany from his perspective as a Romanian-born Jewish man. His works were some of the most poignant showcases of the horrors of the Holocaust. If people like him had not spoken of what they experienced, history might have looked different. The wrong done by the Nazi’s might not have been as widely known as it is today.
No one can act on a matter if they are unaware that it exists. I pray that nobody reading this ever has to experience an evil like what Wiesel had to face. But when you do face evil, and you ignore it, you are allowing that evil to jump to its next victim without any pushback.
Speak. Report. Write. Do whatever it takes to warn good people about bad things. Your fight is bigger than you.
