Right Thing, Right Now

 

“Let’s do what we can. Let’s be a small light in a dark world.” - Ryan Holiday

Nonfiction: Philosophy, Personal Development

Right Thing, Right Now: Justice in an Unjust World by Ryan Holiday

If you are looking for a book all about Stoicism, this is not it! The author, Ryan Holiday, is a writer and a marketer who promotes Stoicism. In Right Thing, Right Now he uses historical figures to support his assertion that “everything worth pursuing in life flows from a strong sense of justice - or one’s commitment to doing the right thing, no matter how difficult. In order to be courageous, wise, and self-disciplined, one must begin with justice.” Holiday uses examples from the lives of Emily Davison, Thomas Clarkson, Harvey Milk, Martin Niemoller, Florence Nightingale, President Carter, and many more to illustrate his point.

Sometimes we may not be aware of injustice but what will we do when we are made aware? Are we willing to choose the right thing even if it means losing the “support” of others? Here is what President Truman did:

Sgt. Isaac Woodard, Jr., was a Black soldier who had just returned to the United States after fighting in World War II. On February 12, 1946, Woodard, still wearing his Army uniform, rode a Greyhound bus to return to his home in South Carolina. Woodard asked the white bus driver to stop the bus so that he could use the restroom. The bus driver reluctantly agreed, calling Woodard  “boy,” a derogatory term often used in the South to demean Black men. Woodard, who had served three years in the Pacific theater, responded, “I’m a man just like you.”

At the next town, the driver summoned the police. They removed Woodard from the bus and beat him. The police officers repeatedly and viciously poked him in his eyes, leaving him blind.

President Truman upon learning about the beating and blinding of Sergeant Isaac Woodard, Jr. said, “I had no idea it was as terrible as that. We’ve got to do something”

Two years later, in 1948, many Southern states walked out of the Democratic National Convention over Truman civil rights policies. He replied, “You can always get along without the support of people like that.”

Sergeant John Rice

Then, in 1950, Sergeant John Rice, a Native American World War II veteran, was killed in action in Korea. He was denied burial in Sioux City, Iowa due to his race. Truman was outraged and arranged for his burial with honors in Arlington cemetery and sent a plane for his family. Truman’s official statement read: “The President feels that the national appreciation of patriotic sacrifice should not be limited by race, color, or creed.”

“ … when I say all Americans, I mean ALL Americans.” – President Harry Truman

Joseph Kennedy, Sr.

What happens when we intentionally avoid choosing the “right thing?” … Joseph Kennedy, the father of President John Kennedy was the U.S ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1940, during the time of the rise of Hitler and Nazism. He was an isolationist, made false equivalencies, and argued with “whataboutisms.” He supported appeasement as Hitler invaded Austria, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Poland, Belgium, and France. During this time, he continued to discourage any potential aid from the United States to Britain, even as bombs were falling in London!

Joseph Kennedy wasn’t a secret Nazi, but he, like many men, wanted the problem NOT to be his. He was looking for a way NOT to care. To NOT get involved. To NOT have to risk anything.

In the end, his son, President John Kennedy was haunted by his father’s cowardice and his role in appeasing Hitler that led to World War II and the loss of his older brother who was killed in action. John Kennedy learned an important lesson from his father’s avoidance of the right thing!

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – President Kennedy

Pastor Martin Niemöller

If injustice doesn’t affect you, why bother to pursue justice for others? Will you wait to do the right thing only when the time is right for you?  … In the 1920s and early 1930s, Pastor Martin Niemöller, a German theologian and Lutheran pastor, sympathized with many Nazi ideas and supported radical right-wing political movements.

After Adolf Hitler’s interference in the Protestant Church, Niemöller then became an outspoken critic of Hitler. He was imprisoned in Nazi prisons and concentration camps during the last eight years of Nazi rule, where he nearly died.

After World War II, he was asked how he could have been so self-absorbed during the rise of Nazism, so silent when it mattered, Niemöller answered, “I am paying for that mistake now, and not me alone, but thousands of other persons like me.”  

He finally realized Germans had been complicit through their silence on the injustice perpetrated by the Nazis on "other" people  - it didn't "concern" them. Their silence resulted in the Nazi persecution, imprisonment, and murder of millions of people. He felt this was especially true of the leaders of the Protestant churches. Niemöller openly spoke about his own early complicity in Nazism and his eventual change of heart. His powerful words about guilt and responsibility still resonate today.

In addition to the fascinating stories of historical figures, Right Thing, Right Now offers you an opportunity to look at yourself. The author asks some tough questions which may lead you to believe that the circle of your life may be too narrow, your heart too cold, and your character too small to see the injustice in your community and in our world. But he then goes on to give you hope that you, too, can be "a small light in a dark world."

The right time for me to read this book was right now! It was particularly good to read as the dark cloud of radical right-wing political rhetoric and unconstitutional acts seems to be increasing without any end in sight. “Freedom is essential … but the most essential freedom is the freedom from fear. Our job is to fight to ensure justice prevails – that the vulnerable are protected and can live without fear. Because they are us and we are them”. Every one of us can be courageous in our daily lives by choosing to do the right thing, right now.

“The Stoics never claimed that living justly was easy, only that it was necessary. And that the alternative—sacrificing our principles for something lesser—was considered only by cowards and fools.”