Right Thing, Right Now

Until we stop debating, we can’t start doing. We keep debating so we don’t have to start doing. JUSTICE

Once in prison, they refused to comply further, undergoing hunger strikes nearly to the point of death. In a famous speech, which took its example from Cato, who died rather than serve Caesar, Pankhurst explained that she refused to accept the legitimacy of a government that so deprived its citizens. “You can kill that woman,” she said of herself a

That’s one of the ways you get allies—by looking like someone they can do business with. You could argue that this is unfair, that appearances shouldn’t matter, that people should be able to dress and behave however they want, that the only thing that should matter is a person’s character and the righteousness of their cause. And guess what? In arg

“Love thy neighbor as thyself,” Hillel told the man. “All the rest is commentary.” Care about others. Treat them as you would wish to be treated.

In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius would write that “what doesn’t transmit light creates its own darkness.” When we close ourselves off to love and hope, naturally we experience less love and hope. “Whoever hardens their heart,” the Bible reminds us, “falls into trouble.” We create our own darkness.

“Virtue” can seem old-fashioned. In fact, virtue—arete—translates to something very simple and very timeless: Excellence. Moral. Physical. Mental.

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer said from inside Hitler’s Germany. “God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

One aim: to help you choose… Courage, bravery, endurance, fortitude, honor, sacrifice… Temperance, self-control, moderation, composure, balance… Justice, fairness, service, fellowship, goodness, kindness… Wisdom, knowledge, education, truth, self-reflection, peace…

Pragmatism without virtue is dangerous and hollow. Virtue without pragmatism is ineffectual and impotent.