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The Authentic Eclectic
We All Have The Right To — Not
Sometimes, it’s okay to stand down
At a time when freedoms are under siege and high ground to defend them is hard to find, when “it’s my Constitutional right to…” or “it’s my God-given right to” or “I’m entitled to…” dominates the public conversation, there’s another right.The right to — not.
No one’s declared war on silence.
Not every statement requires a rebuttal, and not every comment is a value judgment. We’re not bulls in a ring, compelled to charge every red cape. Nobody’s twisting our arm, demanding our opinion or complicity. If we have an opinion, we have the right to voice it — or not voice it.
We can be the rock in the stream that lets water flow by, not the salmon fighting the current. The salmon’s fight to its spawning grounds is righteous because the stakes are survival of its species. Your stakes are likely to be much lower. You can stand down. Unless lives DO depend on it. Unless this is a fight YOU want.
When we are judged for our age, our youth, our weight, our race, our intelligence, our education or lack of it, our very selves, we can take that in as a gentle breeze or we can choose to let it grab us, spin us, or tornado us into another county. We have a right to our uniqueness; we…
