Standing Out: Courage in Seeking Truth

Have you been in a position where you have had to speak up against untruths or situations you believed were unjust?

I recall serving on a jury several years ago.  After hearing the testimony, we moved to the jury room to begin deliberations.  The deliberations lasted two days: each day was as different as night and day!  The first day:  we reviewed the judge's instructions and the notes we took or testimony we recalled.  The second day:  we discovered that two jury members went against the judge's instructions.  Independently, one person went to the crime scene to investigate what the police officers had described; the other juror researched online what typical sentences would be passed if the jury found the defendant guilty.

Day 2 was chaos!  Once this new information was shared with the rest of the jury, the deliberations went out of control.  In an attempt to justify this illicit information, these two jurors badgered those of us who were bothered with this new information.

What happened next?

Standing Out:  Light among the Darkness

We ended up a divided jury, unable to come to a decision.  But, I believe something more disturbing occurred:  none of us spoke up!  None of us told the judge what had happened in the jury room.  An injustice was served that day.

Society is built on trust, vulnerability and courage:

• Trust in one another and the rules that society created to govern itself.
• Vulnerability when words or actions move against the weak and oppressed.
• Courage to seek truth, understanding, protect justice, and change society for the benefit of all.

Question:  What do you see in the first image (above)?  The moon?  Darkness?  Click on the image and enlarge it.  Off to the right, a little lower than center, is a small dot: a planet that also reflects light in the dark expanse.

Trust, vulnerability, and courage are sometimes like that small planet -- off to the side, unseen, forgotten.  At times we think we see the whole picture.  But, unless we enlarge our perspective, we won't see the whole picture... possibly, there is more!

Standing Out:  Courage to be Different, One among Many

We are living in a divided country where one light is overpowering another.  Only through dialogue can we reclaim:

• Trust in others and society;
• Vulnerability to speak the truth we understand; and
• Courage to stay in relationship, with the goal of enlarging all perspectives.

Each person has Sacred Worth and Value and is challenged to contribute to the Whole. Our individual voices - silenced by individual and collective doubts - are waiting to be heard.  We are asked to stand out with courage, daring to be One among Many.

Standing Out:  Growing Tall

Questions to consider:

• Who are the people I do not trust?  Why?
• When do I feel vulnerable and alone?
• How might I find the courage to speak of my lack of trust and vulnerability?

In words paraphrased from Francis of Assisi:  Make me a channel of peace.  Where there is hatred, let me bring love.  Where there is injury, pardon.  These are words that encourage the healing of divisions; and give us a framework for trust, vulnerability and courage.

It may be too late to correct the silences of the past, to speak the truth that was not shared.  But maybe -- today, we can choose to trust, to be vulnerable, and to live in courage.

May this week, through dialogue, lessen the mistrust and misunderstandings that engulf us.  May we have the courage to seek truth and become vulnerable in all relationships.  May we become open to a larger perspective... and desire to see the whole picture!

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

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