Which of These Choices Do You Choose Today?

Slavery takes many forms and some may see its evil head in America today. The purpose of terror is to cause your opponent to react from fear instead of reason. If the terrorist is successful in making you become afraid then you become a slave of, if nothing else, your fear driven reactions. Dr. Howard Thurman, a confidant of Martin Luther King, wrote that slaves generally have just two major choices to make when they are being terrorized. They can resist or not resist.

Assimilation is the most popular way of non-resistance. One begins to imitate their masters as a way to avoid conflict with them. The assimilated must repudiate what they previously believed in, including their heritage and their core values. Another major form of non-resistance is to drop out and pretend that your rulers or their actions don't affect your life. It is an act of cultural isolation. The pretenders often feel contempt and anger at their rulers but are not willing to risk anything major to create positive change.

There are also more than one way to choose resistance. One can choose to violently overthrow their oppressors. The cry of this group is often "something must be done." These people feel that power comes in the form of violent physical action. This alternative creates a lose-lose dilemma. If they are unsuccessful in their rebellion they are often killed or imprisoned forever. If they are successful they have learned that violence is a good solution for conflict and will often become the oppressors of the future.

Thurman credits Jesus with another resistance response. I believe the some Buddhist would call it the "third way" and Gandhi referred to it as Ahisma. It is of course non-violent direct action (not passivity). It is a way to resist with all that you are but without becoming evil like your oppressor. The problem for most of us who understand this is how do we overcome our fear and hold the courage that we need for this. Jesus called on his disciples to fear God, the Father and not man as the way through this fear.

My personal concept of God rejects the idea of Father and replaces it with a deep inner understanding of my inter-connection with all life along with a sense of stewardship that I hold for future generations. My fear of God in this context speaks to my understanding of what I lose when I do not use courage to speak out against tyranny. I guess in the final analysis for me that overcoming fear from terror results directly from an understanding that I am part of something so big and so beautiful and so full of love that I am willing to risk my material possessions and even my life in order to protect it. I don't think it is an easy path but then neither are the alternatives.

Victor Bremson

June 14, 2003