Take a Stand

“You’ve gotta stand for something, Christine,” my oldest sister advised me when I was in my thirties. But I wasn’t ready yet to stick my neck out that far. I thought maybe I could make a difference by laying low, keeping cool and making friends…with everyone. But then one day I realized that good girls don’t shake the Earth like the ones that bend the rules. Smiling all the while.

Taking a stand takes a lot of courage — at the time I didn’t have the foundation to withstand that kind of pressure. Thankfully, the Universe was kind to me and didn’t give me more than I could handle. But lately something has shifted. It’s like a tsunami wave of challenges, one after the other. It is as if the world is saying, “Are you going to take that stand now?”

And so I am.

The challenges come in all different forms. Sometimes they are random books I pick up at the bookstore that literally shout at me as I read their pages. Other times they come in the form of messages such as “You must surround yourself with butterflies.” And I swear to you not thirty seconds later, someone walks by with a butterfly on her bag.

When we stand for something, we live with deep conviction. I had always shied away from living in that manner, worried that I would lose sight of the diversity of life, becoming too entrenched in a certain way of thinking.

But then I realized that holding convictions such as the goodness of life, the beauty of the human spirit and the power of words could only help serve the world better rather than tear it down or try to convert it to my way of thinking.

I am here to tell you that taking a stand is a worthwhile endeavor. I may fail miserably, but the only people who have never lost are the ones who never fought for anything anyway.

 

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