In high school I had a teacher that had us memorize a quote. At any time during our school year, we could, and would be called on to recite this quote verbatim, including punctuation. If we missed a comma, we were told to sit down, and would be called again at a later date. I, for one, never forgot this quote. Over the years I have discussed it with some old classmates and most of them have not forgotten it either. Although we can recite it to this day, I wonder how many have really stopped to think about what it says. I know I have never sat down and really contemplated what it said, until now. The quote he put on the board and had us memorize is as follows: “If all mankind, save one, were of one opinion, and that one, were of a contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one, than that one, would be justified in silencing mankind.”
Upon researching to verify the validity of the quote, I found a few things. The quote is by John Stuart Mill from On Liberty published in 1859 and Wikipedia says “On Liberty is a philosophical work by English philosopher John Stuart Mill, originally intended as a short essay.” The quote itself I also found was slightly different, however, interpretation pretty much the same. http://www.goodreads.com has the quote as “If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.”
This quote had me thinking about The Bill Of Rights and more specifically the First Amendment to the US Constitution – “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances”, as well as, today’s state of affairs. Watching some of the things going on in today’s society, I can not help but wonder, are Americans ignorant to the words of this First Amendment? Do they have no moral compass? Do they not know right from wrong? good from evil? is it both? or all of the above? Are they using these words in selfish ways? All I know is I am not sure I can wrap my mind around any of it and will continue to search for healing.
Although I would like to address every part of the First Amendment, especially the freedom and power of the press and the truth I think should come along with that, addressing every part of it in context with the goings on these days could take multiple posts and a great deal of time. So, I will only briefly express some thoughts in context with the quote about silencing. So my first thought is about hate speech and safe spaces. Though I might not like a certain amount of what people say, who am I to define their speech as hate? Who decides that? Do we as a complete society define that? In my lifetime, if I had not liked what someone had to say, I have either not listened or I have let them speak and then addressed my feelings back to them once they were done. In doing the latter I have found that in most cases, we found an agreeable place somewhere in the middle. If it was a speaker and there was to be no back and forth, I lifted myself up and left the premises. I have found that if someone is spewing hate and their audience leaves, then there is no one left to spew to. As far as safe spaces go, if they are places to meditate, to de-stress, to calm, to express positive thoughts than I guess in some respects we all have those. However, if they are a place to congregate and have like minds spew their hate or suppress the views of others, then is that not silencing the one who has no power? If there is no respect, where is the line between freedom of speech and right to assemble? Or should there be one? I continue to search for reachable agreeable solutions to such situations. Can we find them here? I do not know.
My second thought comes with listening and keeping silent. We will never rid our society of hate, as we all have it in us, and the choice to express it. However, maybe if we are willing to listen to each other, to really hear each other, than maybe together we can help heal the source from where the hate comes. Also, when I talk about keeping silent, I speak of doing it when we should be screaming from the rafters. As we have the right to choose to be silent, should we be doing such in the face of harm happening to ourselves and others. My heart believes this is the open wound that starts and perpetuates the hate in the first place. Everyday I try to figure out what is the balance and when is it right for me to speak, when is it right for me to listen, and when is it right to remain in silence. I think I am learning that when it all comes from the place of good, from the place of love, from the place of innocence, than I will know exactly when it is the right time for each of these. And to John Stuart Mills, who I believe understood this, there has to be morality brought in to the equation. For he knew, as I know, we all need each other; we just have to realize that.
I have always invited you along and today will be no different. So if today you decide to share of yourself, a story or thought, I ask that you have it come from a place that will help us all heal, not from a destructive place.